GeraldRings tend to have a special place in geekdom and at Samsung’s recent Unpacked event in San Jose unveiled a new gadget apart from the new Samsung Galaxy S24 devices.
Very little was shown on screen as Samsung dropped a “one more thing” moment toward the end of the presentation, but we now have more details on the ring. With a big emphasis on all things Samsung Health, the new Galaxy Ring is looking to be the next step for Samsung as it expands into a new category of tracking devices.
In the present market, most would see the Oura ring as the incumbent, and Samsung has set its sights on grabbing a piece of the pie.
However, making a health tracker in the form of a ring does come with its challenges. Given the small size of the ring, there’s only a limited amount of electronics that can fit within and battery life is a concern as well. The Oura ring currently does well by providing a week’s worth of juice before requiring a recharge.
While we had hoped to check out the ring itself at the Unpacked event, the demo area focused exclusively on phones with the Galaxy Ring nowhere to be seen. A first look at the ring reveals the Galaxy Ring as a subtle accessory with health tracking features such as sleep, activity, resting heart rate, and heart rate variability, which contribute to a user’s vitality score. The ring will also have fertility and period tracking features, and specify health goals.
The Galaxy Ring will come in platinum silver, ceramic black, and gold, and sizes are available ranging up to XL (5 to 13mm).
Even though smartwatches have done well to entrench themselves into the health tracking space, the battery life is still much to be desired. The Galaxy Ring could then be a compelling alternative as it is more unobtrusive and it requires less from users to rejig their habits to fit a new gadget into the mix. There’s just one caveat to using the Galaxy Ring: some features are only accessible with a Galaxy S24-Series phone.
The biggest hurdle remains for Samsung to appeal its latest wearable from the existing alternatives, in hopes of enticing existing Samsung and non-Samsung users to give the product a go. With the right price and a fraction of the cost of a Galaxy Watch, it might be the ideal stepping stone for many to take the first step.
Gerald currently straddles between his love of video games and board gaming. There’s nothing that interests him more than trying out the newest and fanciest gadget in town as well. He dreams of publishing a board game sometime in the future!
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