It's been a long wait for the Galaxy Ring but it's finally here. This is Samsung's first “new” product in a while. It's one that doesn't face a lot of competition from its biggest rivals. Most smart rings available today are from companies probably worth as much as a rounding error on Samsung's balance sheets.
Think of this as a vote of confidence from Samsung. It finds enough value in this segment to take a crack at it and potentially become the dominant force in the process. But does the first smart ring from Samsung have the potential to usher in a new era for wearable devices?
That's what we'll find out in our Galaxy Ring review.
Design and fit
There's nothing about the Galaxy Ring's design that would make you think it's a piece of tech. It's very slim, thin, and comfortable to wear. You'll easily forget that it's on your finger.
The Ring is water resistant, so you can wear it in the shower or go swimming with it. I didn't run into any issues like skin irritation, which is certainly appreciated. What I didn’t like was the pronounced scratching sound when the Ring brushes up against other objects, like my phone.
Perhaps this is something that can be mitigated with a different finish on the product or through the use of more durable metals like real silver and gold. Given the company's focus on selling more of its products directly online, it would be suitable to offer these more premium materials exclusively through Samsung.com.
At just 7mm wide and 2.6mm thick, the Galaxy Ring is more petite than most smart rings. Samsung's gone for a concave shape that complements its slim profile and makes it unobtrusive. This is perhaps the most non-smart ring looking smart ring we've seen yet, and that's just how it should be for a product in this category.
You'll easily forget that it's on your finger
When you purchase the Galaxy Ring, you'll be sent a sizing kit to help you determine the proper size between 5 and 13. I normally wear a size 8 or 9 ring, though when I tried on the “dummy” rings, I fitted between a size 9 and size 10.
In other words, don't skip the fitting process. In order for a smart ring to be effective, it needs to fit comfortably but also maintain skin contact to collect data. Samsung recommends that you wear the Galaxy Ring on your index finger, partly because that's how you'll use the gesture feature.
Health and Fitness tracking
The Galaxy Ring is meant to be a discrete device that tracks some important metrics for your health. It doesn't have a display or any controls that you use to make inputs directly on the device.
What it does on its own is track your blood oxygen levels, sleep, skin temperature, and heart rate. It can even auto detect select workouts. All of the data that it collects is then sent to Samsung Health. There, with the magic of AI, it's evaluated and used to provide you with an Energy Score.
Think of it as a rating for your body's overall state. For example, if you push yourself particularly hard during a workout today, it may recommend taking it easy tomorrow.
We found the Energy Score to be accurate for the most part, but there's certainly room for improvement here. There were instances where the score either jumped or dipped without any corresponding reason. It could be because it assumed that I'd had more restful sleep than I actually did or gone too hard at a workout that barely made me sweat.
The Energy Score feeds into another AI feature called Wellness Tips. It provides personalized recommendations for things like activity and nutrition. The corresponding advice would sometimes not be entirely spot on, but I imagine it will improve over time as the AI learns more and adapts accordingly.
Energy Score is a one-glance summation of your body's overall state
The auto workout detection feature is fairly limited as it can only track walking or running workouts. It's very useful for both since there's no screen on the device and the only other option would be to use the phone to manually start the workout.
I found that the Ring was quite good at picking up the workout on its own after a few minutes, even when I'd go for a run without my phone, with the only limitation being the lack of GPS data.
What's impressive is how much data it's able to provide you. The Ring tracked cadence, average speed, heart rate zones, distance traveled, and calories burned for runs that were detected automatically. Other workouts can be tracked using the Samsung Health app, but the Ring provides live heart rate data for only a handful of workouts, such as cycling.
This could be a limitation for you depending on what your preferred workouts are and whether the Ring is capable of giving a live heart rate reading for them. Activity tracking works well until it doesn't, but those instances are few and far between.
The Ring would sometimes record inaccurate running duration and distance with a similarly skewed heart rate reading. This usually happened when the auto workout detection was relied upon, which somewhat defeats the purpose of this feature.
Sleep Tracking
Sleep tracking merits being detailed on its own even though the sleep data does factor into the overall Energy Score. You'll also see a separate Sleep Score in Samsung Health based on the data pulled from the Galaxy Ring.
Samsung has done some incredible work on sleep tracking with its smartwatches and it takes that one step further with the new metrics like nighttime movement and sleep latency on the Galaxy Ring to help you sleep better.
The sleep data you can access in the app includes skin temperature, sleep stages, heart rate, and blood oxygen levels. All of this data is used to provide a sleep score that rates your downtime on a scale of 100. If you like pouring over data, the Galaxy Ring can help you learn a lot about how you sleep and utilize the sleep coaching feature to take actionable steps for improving the quality of your rest.
Galaxy Ring shines bright as a sleep tracker
The Galaxy Ring did a great job at tracking sleep, and data about the sleep stages was very accurate. The only thing that stands out is the blood oxygen data. It can sometimes be inaccurate, often providing readings below the 80s, a level that would would likely send you to the ER. But this is a known limitation of wearables and not necessary a drawback of the Galaxy Ring alone.
Sleep tracking is one of the reasons why I've bought the Galaxy Ring. I love having in-depth data for my sleep but going to bed with a smartwatch on has always been irritating, to say the least. The Galaxy Ring is the perfect device for those who want all of those sleep insights without the discomfort of sleeping with a smartwatch on their wrist.
Gesture Control
This is a cool little feature that only works on paired devices running One UI 6.1.1. That's only the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 at the time of this review, but more devices will be running One UI 6.1.1 by the end of 2024.
Simply double pinch when wearing the Galaxy Ring and you can either take a photo remotely or dismiss an alarm. This is why Samsung recommends that you wear the Ring on your index finger. otherwise this feature won't work. That's all there is to it at this point in time. I did find it to be very useful for dismissing one of a dozen or so early morning alarms without having to sear my half-open eyes with a bright display.
Samsung Health Experience
The app experience in Samsung Health is critical to the overall user experience since that's the only place where you interact with the Galaxy Ring's data and settings. Unfortunately, this leaves a lot to be desired. There's no separate section for the Galaxy Ring in the app, unlike other Samsung wearables.
Imagine that you've bought the Ring, paired it, and now want to see only the data it's pulling in. But you can't, so now you're confused. Even when you tap on the overall step count, the app lets you see the count measured by your Galaxy Watch or phone but doesn't show how many steps the Ring counted on its own.
There's room for improvement in the app experience
Think about it. Someone spends a fair bit of money on this device and excitedly pairs it with their phone to see what it's individually capable of. But when they open Samsung Health, they can see that the Ring is connected but aren't clear on which data is coming from the Ring.
It would be far better if Samsung Health provided an overview of everything the Galaxy Ring tracked. Merging the Ring's data with data from my phone or smartwatch should be optional, not the default.
A smart ring is fundamentally different from a smartwatch. The latter has a display that you can interact with to see the data it tracked on its own. So even if it's not displayed individually within Samsung Health, it doesn't matter. On the other hand, Samsung Health is your only window into what the Galaxy Ring does. For it to not provide clear enough visibility is an unnecessary—and almost shocking—hindrance.
Battery life
Samsung advertises up to seven days of battery life on a single charge for the Galaxy Ring. That's fairly accurate. The actual mileage will vary due to size, though, as battery capacity is not the same on all sizes. On its own, the Galaxy Ring gave us six days of use very comfortably.
There's a way to increase its longevity by up to 30% if you use it alongside a Galaxy Watch. That's because Samsung Health can decide which device to extract data from. For example, if your smartwatch is running low on battery, the app will prioritize the Ring. If the Galaxy Watch can provide more accurate readings, then the Ring's sensors won't be made to work as hard, thus saving battery life in the process.
Samsung ships the Galaxy Ring with a transparent charging case. The case holds about 1.5 charges, so you can effectively get up to three week's of use without reaching for a charger. The case looks great and keeps the Ring secure during travel. It has a USB-C connector for charging and also supports wireless charging.
Verdict
There are some very obvious benefits to buying a Galaxy Ring. It's discrete, stylish, very comfortable, and perfect for sleep tracking. That's notwithstanding the fact that Samsung has also made it very obvious this is a device for those who are already a part of the Galaxy ecosystem.
Some of the Ring's best features, such as Energy Score, Sleep Score, Wellness Tips, and gesture control, only work if it's paired with a Galaxy phone. It's a worthwhile purchase for people firmly in the ecosystem.
On its own, the Galaxy Ring is a $399 sleep tracker great if you don't want to wear a smartwatch to bed. It can also automatically detect a couple of workouts. Those who use a non-Samsung Android phone will find value in it if they're weighing it up against the Oura Ring, a popular smart ring that's been around for a while.
Even though it's cheaper, Oura locks some of the more detailed data behind a monthly $6 subscription. That's not the case with the Galaxy Ring. You get access to all of the data without any subscriptions. That helps make the $399 price tag more palatable.
The Galaxy Ring isn't the destination. It's the beginning of a journey. Much like the original Galaxy Fold set the stage for a monumental shift in the smartphone industry, the Galaxy Ring has the potential to usher in a new era of wearables as Samsung improves its capabilities and features in future iterations.
The smart ring landscape is wide open for Samsung. Some of the companies that have existed in this segment for a while are tiny compared to the Korean behemoth. They do not have the financial muscle or global network to go head to head with Samsung. The Galaxy Ring could very well become the one smart ring that rules them all.
