He Samsung Galaxy Ring It was long expected. Samsung is the first major tech company (i.e., big companies) to invest heavily in creating one of the The best smart ringsa category previously dominated by startups like Oura, Ringconn and Ultrahuman, and all eyes are on it.
As a wearables category that is in its infancy, I'm really excited to see where the technology goes. Wearable technology that is discreet, comfortable, and stylish, rather than just another screen on my wrist? Count me in.
So after finally getting my hands on it, I dutifully carried its little engagement ring style case, put the Ring on my hand, and along with the Samsung Galaxy Watch UltraI paired them with my phone. For this experiment, I'll be using my regular phone (the Oppo Find X5 Pro) with Samsung Health installed instead of a Samsung phone, as I'm interested to see if there are any blockers when using a competing device.
So what’s it like to wear the ring? Is the information useful? Does it look cool? Will a wizard appear and ask you to take it to Mordor?* That’s everything I learned after my first 24 hours with the Samsung Galaxy Ring.
Comfort and style
The best thing about the Galaxy Ring is that it looks good and wears well. There's no other way to describe it: the sleek, black titanium swatch ring has a simple, elegant design, and feels more liberating than wearing a watch, especially the rugged Ultra. The freedom to keep the powerful Ultra on for GPS workouts and everyday wear while taking it off in the evenings and at night is great.
I feel like for formal events I could wear a fancier analog watch with my Ring (you know, with real hands and no apps) and still monitor my health. No one would notice that I'm still, secretly, in cyborg mode.
I can also do it the other way around: I like to do several resistance workouts a week with weights, bands, and calisthenics. When I don’t want the Ring scraping my dumbbell handle, I can take it off and leave the Ultra on, so I still get the tracking benefits. Of course, I have to admit that I’m privileged enough to own and use both, and most people (except for power users) will probably buy either a Ring or a watch, not both.
Wearing it overnight is incredibly comfortable. This Ring is a bit narrower than my Oura Ring, and the protective concave design isn’t very prominent at all. I normally wear a size 10, but my sample size was an 11 due to limited availability. It fits fairly well, though, and isn’t loose enough that it would come off or move around without me physically taking it off, so I’m happy with it for now. Skin contact seems to be fine, and the Ring had no issues monitoring my vitals during waking hours or overnight. After a night of sleep and a full day of work, the Ring’s battery life drops to 89%, down from just 11% after 24 hours.
Statistics and information
Each morning, Ring sends information about your previous day to Samsung Health, which gives you a composite energy score made up of the following factors: average sleep time, sleep time consistency, bedtime/wake time consistency, sleep time, activity from the previous day, heart rate during sleep, and heart rate variability during sleep, or HRV.
Scores marked as “consistency” weren't collected because it was the first night and I only put the Ring on halfway through the day, so it didn't record my previous workout. So I expected my energy score to be a little off from how I was feeling.
After putting on my Ring and Watch Ultra, around 5 p.m., I went to a family barbecue, during which I played firefighter with my niece and nephew for a while, then had some wine before going home to sleep.
Looking back at my sleep data after waking up, I was impressed: the Ring correctly identified when I woke up around 4 a.m., and while my overall sleep score was 95 (Excellent), my energy score was just 57 (Time to Wind Down). This was due to an elevated average heart rate during sleep (likely caused by the alcohol) of 68 bpm, which was above my average resting heart rate of 52 bpm.
It also told me I should have moved more yesterday, which is understandable — I logged 45 minutes of active play, pushing the kids in their toy cars — but according to Samsung’s Energy Score, I didn’t complete my mandatory 33 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous structured exercise that day. Well, there’s no way it could have known about my 8am workout while I wasn’t wearing the device, but I have to commend Galaxy AI for taking everything into account to generate an accurate Energy Score.
So is it good?
Yes, that’s the answer. It’s very good. You don’t even necessarily need a Samsung phone: just an Android phone with Samsung Health downloaded. I found no barriers or limited features in this initial test. There are a few things the Oura Ring app does that are missing here, like tagging parts of your timeline, but the AI-powered personalized suggestions and seemingly accurate sleep classification mean the Galaxy Ring is going to do very well, especially considering those incredible pre-sales.
Many wearable tech enthusiasts, and indeed people who still have no idea how it works, are going to find that they love the idea of a smart ring. The only barrier I see is the high entry price of $400, but it's clear that people are paying for it. Watch this space for a full review after a few more days of testing.
*Only if you found it in the Misty Mountains. If you pre-ordered it from the Samsung store, it's probably fine.
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*Only if you found it in the Misty Mountains. If you pre-ordered it from the Samsung store, it's probably fine.
