The pinnacle of unobtrusive health and activity tracking – that’s the Galaxy Ring in a nutshell. It is designed to excel at sleep, activity and health tracking which you can also do on the Galaxy Watch series but the ring is much smaller in size, weighs almost negligible and boasts of up to 7 days of battery life. We got a chance to test the Galaxy Ring briefly and these are our first impressions.
The Galaxy Ring is available in nine sizes, ranging from 5-13 on the US scale, and they’re all made from grade 5 titanium alloy. No matter which size you choose, you’ll hardly notice it’s on your finger. The concave shape of the Galaxy Ring is an interesting choice that Samsung claims will help prevent scratches.
Choosing the right size is important and Samsung will provide a Galaxy Ring sizing kit that includes plastic mockups of all nine sizes that you can test out before choosing the right size for your finger. The sizing kit is included in the retail price.
The smallest size Galaxy Rings weigh just 2.3 grams, while the largest size 13 rings barely weigh 3 grams. This is quite impressive, considering all the technology it has – battery, PPG optical sensor, temperature sensor and battery indicator LED etc. It is also very convenient to wear while sleeping compared to a smartwatch.
Wearing the Galaxy Ring feels less hassle than wearing a regular ring. It might take a little getting used to if you don’t wear jewelry, but it’s much better than wearing a watch on your wrist. It can handle water splashes and even deep dives, thanks to its 10ATM water resistance rating.
The Galaxy Ring looks and feels like a normal ring
The Galaxy Ring is available in three colors – black, silver and gold. The black and silver versions have a matte coating while the gold model is shiny and reflective.
Unlike some established smart ring makers (ahem Oura), the Galaxy Ring comes without any additional subscription so you can access your health and activity tracking data freely. The downside is that it will only work with Samsung phones for now. The Galaxy Ring connects to your Galaxy phone via Bluetooth LE 5.4 and requires an active Samsung account and the Samsung Health app.
Once paired, the Galaxy Ring will start monitoring key health parameters including heart rate, skin temperature, and sleep, as well as basic activities like walking and running.
The Galaxy Ring is billed as an advanced sleep monitoring device with heart and respiratory rates, activity during sleep, and sleep latency. Samsung also says that wearing the Galaxy Ring with a Galaxy Watch can help you get even more accurate results. This combo increases the Galaxy Ring’s battery capacity by up to 30% from the original 6 to 7 days (depending on ring size).
Samsung claims the Galaxy Ring is rated for “hundreds of charge cycles” and takes 80 minutes to fully charge. Charging is done via a dedicated charging case that comes with each Galaxy Ring and has a USB-C cable.
The Galaxy Ring in its charging case
In addition to the health and activity tracking features, the Galaxy Ring also has some basic remote control functions via pinch gestures. You can pinch your thumb and index finger while wearing the ring to trigger the camera shutter or turn off an alarm on your paired Galaxy phone. These features are currently limited to the Z Fold6 and Z Flip6, but Samsung has confirmed that it will add support for the Galaxy S24 series going forward.
The Galaxy Ring also supports the Samsung Find network, and its LED flash can help you find it if it gets lost.
With a price tag of $399/€449/£399, the Galaxy Ring is not a cheap gadget. It’s more expensive than the recently announced Galaxy Watch7, which offers a larger pool of health and activity tracking features and only works with Galaxy smartphones. We’ll need to spend some more time with the Galaxy Ring to give you our final verdict, but it’s certainly an exciting device worth checking out.
