Its IP68 and 10 ATM water resistance, so you can use it while you’re in the shower or doing the dishes. It pairs with any Android phone through the Samsung Health app, but it won’t work with iPhones. You don’t need a subscription to access the full feature set; all available features are included with purchase. It also works with Samsung Find, so you can easily locate it if it goes missing. It has a charging case that works exactly like your wireless earbuds. Samsung claims the Galaxy Ring can last seven days on a single charge, which is about the same battery life as the Oura Ring.
The Ring includes many of the health-tracking features you’d expect from a smartwatch, including sleep tracking, cycle tracking, high or low heart rate alerts, and automatic workout detection. Samsung has talked about the use of artificial intelligence on the Ring, which uses smart algorithms to track sleep patterns, snoring, heart rate, and breathing to give you more reliable information about your sleep.
More importantly, there’s a feature called Energy Score that’s also coming to the new Galaxy Watches. Like Fitbit’s Daily Readiness or Garmin’s Body Battery, it looks at your data and then recommends how ready you are to start the day based on factors like your sleep quality and your recent activity levels. You’ll also get “wellness tips” throughout the day to help you reach your health goals. If you use both the Galaxy Ring and the new Galaxy Watch at the same time, some sensors may turn off on the watch to save battery, which is something I’ve never seen before.
Photo: Julian Chokkattu
The Ring doesn’t offer haptic feedback, but you can perform some basic gesture controls with your fingers for some tasks, like turning off an alarm or starting a video recording on your phone. These “double-pinch gestures” are also available on the Galaxy Watch7 series.
