OPINION : Samsung will need to fit the best impudent rings with what really matters most – a great familiar app .
So , Samsung has finally unveiled its first saucy pack . TheGalaxy Ringhas arrived with hopes that it can enjoy , and likely taste to use up into some of the achiever of theOura Ring 3by locomote fittingness and health dog off from the wrist joint .
While the £ 399/$399 cost tag makes it more expensive to put on your fingerbreadth than other chic rings , Samsung is n’t enquire you to pay for a subscription on top , despite some rumor it was planning to go down that path .
I ’ve now had a opportunity to wear one and it does n’t take long to see that Samsung has paid close tending to the competition as far as looks are concerned . It ’s one of the well - designed smart rings I ’ve worn . What I have n’t seen however is the app that will really be the brain behind the Galaxy Ring and that leaves me with a lot of motion .
All about the app
Having try somewhat much every smart ring that has set in motion since saucy rings became a affair ( all the path back to the Motiv Ring in 2017 ) , I know how authoritative the time you spend in the app is to the overall experience . While I ’ve seen lots of rings get plenty proper with the design and the hardware , ultimately they ’ve been let down when it ’s time to turn to your smartphone .
It ’s ultimately what makes the Oura and other screen - less wearables like theWhoop Strap 4.0succeed and stand out where many others have give out , by clear putting in the time with the software . This is n’t just about the presentation of your data , it ’s also about helping you understand what that information means and what it ’s in reality narrate you on a daily basis .
Right now , I have no musical theme what that looks like for Samsung ’s Ring . My time with it mainly give me a better good sense of its attractive design , empathise more about the sensors it ’s packing and the smarting that those sensors unlock . While those factors are authoritative , the app is so integral to have and using a smart ring that my main concern here is that the Ring will just be treat like another one of Samsung ’s smartwatches , and so I hope I ’m prove untimely .
The likelihood is that the Galaxy Ring becomes another wearable that lives in a slightly more tailoredSamsung Healthapp , while I finger that it demand its own app to really succeed .
Using a smart ring is a very different aspect from wear off a smartwatch . You ’re go to be interact with it less for starters – you ’re not glance down at it to moderate your footmark or flummox ocular cues that your gist rate is abnormally high or low . The app and the means it deport on your sound is where all the gravid lifting will take spot .
The best examples I ’ve seen of this so far have been with the Oura andUltrahumanrings . Two product that definitely share some similarities in software and UI approaches , but also show that they ’ve considered the remainder between bust a impertinent ringing compare to a smartwatch , and what that mean about putting the primal data in front of you and sorting that data into the right-hand context .
I know right now that the Galaxy Ring will give me Energy grade to better shape how I spend my day , track my steps and slumber and capture my all - twenty-four hour period warmness pace , but how that ’s box continue unclear . Sleep is clearly a driving forcefulness for many turning to ring over smartwatches , simply because it ’s a more discerning way to supervise your circadian rhythm . If this is also going to be core to the Galaxy Ring experience ( and Samsung seems to suggest it will be ) , that will need to be a focal full point of delve into the app .
Another area I ’m intrigued to find out more about is the access to bring in practice trailing into the fold here , because so far that has been a shortcoming for all of the ring I ’ve tested .
overbold pack are n’t ideal to don for intensity training and I ’ve not receive nitty-gritty rate tracking to be honest during workouts like hunt either . We ’ve watch Oura , Ultrahuman and other rings offer consecrated exercise modes , but they ’re far from arrant .
Oura offers support to share data from third political party apps , so that might be the serious result until doughnut get full at tracking exercise , because I ’m sceptical that Samsung has deal to amend thing beyond what I ’ve seen elsewhere . Again , there ’s been no detail on that front .
It does seem that Samsung has realise a few smart ring shortcomings in some respects as it has speak about using the Ring and its scout together to advance battery life . It does that by unload some of the warmheartedness pace monitoring to the Watch . possibly it ’ll need to do the same for other aspects of the Ring ’s tracking here too .
If , as have a bun in the oven , it will be Samsung ’s Health app that is the hub for the Galaxy Ring ’s data then I go for that Samsung has pass some fourth dimension refining the experience for its smartwatches and other habiliment .
Ultimately , the chic rings that have quell on my fingerbreadth the longsighted are the ones that have work up dedicated fellow traveler apps , and if Samsung has done the same then it ’s got every chance of giving Oura and other contender a run for their money . I ’m intrigued to detect out , that ’s for sure .
