As a customer technical editor, I’ve used a lot of smartwatches that seem to be able to do everything: track my fitness stats, help me set up my video recordings, control my music, and so much more. But the constant stream of notifications can seem annoying and can raise my blood pressure and track it. Also, the battery occasionally dies in the middle of the day because I have to rate it. The Samsung Galaxy Ring, a first-generation foray into the South Korean tech giant’s smart rings, removes all notifications and increases battery life tenfold, so I can focus on my fitness tracking metrics.
In the month I tested it, I put down my Samsung Watch Five Pro to see how the Ring performed as a standalone device. This setting is rarely suitable for everyone, especially those who want smartwatch features like texting from your wrist and at once. GPS tracking at a glance. But for those like me who are looking for an easy and simple way to track their fitness stats, the Samsung Galaxy Ring is a game-changer. Read on for my Samsung Galaxy Ring review and opinion. its design, performance, and more.
I am a generational journalist living and working in New York. As a transplant from the Midwest, I worked at the English branch of the University of Iowa before diving headlong into generational journalism. I spent over 4 years learning everything there is to know about generating clients, with a specific focus on home.
My signatures come with ZDNET, PCMag, Decider, Lifewire, NBC, and many more. After hours, you can pack up my tech and pick up my boarding passes, read the latest nonfiction publications, or gamble on my MSI Stealth platform. .
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Here at Forbes Vetted, I cover equipment, technology, sleep, and parenting. I gained my product and sponsorship experience at Dotdash Meredith, where I coordinated DIY and home product practices for People, Real Simple, The Spruce, Better Homes
As a music journalist, I interviewed The Cramps, Nekromantix, The Rev. Horton Heat, Dee Snider, Dave Brockie, Twin Temple, Kevin Haskins and Forbidden Dimension. As a podcast and video writer, I’ve produced content on David Bowie, Duran Duran, Black Sabbath, and Van Halen, as well as dozens of true crime podcast episodes.
My bylines also include Fangoria, The New York Times, Marie Claire, ID’s CrimeFeed, Penthouse, BUST, Vice, and an appearance on The UnXplained with William Shatner.
Our Rating: 9/10 | Operating system: Android | Battery life: up to 7 days | Charging Time: 80 minutes | Available sizes: five to 13
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The Samsung Galaxy Ring has a sophisticated and sublime build, so much so that members of my circle of family members thought I was splurging on a new bling. I won a score unit in matte black. Even if I’m not a fan of color one hundred percent (I have almost no black in my closet, because I personally prefer to be a human rainbow), those who prefer a neutral or dark shade embrace this shade en masse. And of course, if you don’t need matte black, it also comes in gold and silver.
The Samsung Galaxy Ring comes with a charging case.
During my briefings, Samsung has frequently highlighted the concave design, and for good reason. It’s slim and soft: compared to my Movano Evie ring, I wear it most of the time. This concave structure eliminates the maximum of the other rings, and I appreciate that when I play with my Meta Quest 3.
A small notch indicates the correct position of the ring on your finger to ensure sensor accuracy. My Ring-owning friends have a hard time keeping that notch where it belongs. However, I didn’t have this challenge and it stayed firmly in position on my finger.
Just be sure to invest in Samsung’s sizing kit – it’s worth $10 to try other lengths. While purchasing this kit, I discovered that my previous same length would not be compatible if I had ordered it without double checking.
The Ring comes with two parts: the Ring itself and a square charging station. In my tests, it gave me about 50% power in a charging time of about 40 minutes. This is in line with Samsung’s claim that a hundred consistent with the interest rate is achieved in 80 minutes, but it’s the ring itself and the battery life that impresses me.
It’s not the last time I charged my ring, but even with a low battery it can still last. . . [+] hours.
Contextually, almost all existing Samsung and Google Pixel smartwatches can last a few days at a single pace with power saving features enabled. The existing exception to this rule is the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, which Samsung says can last several days. (As we’re still testing this device, our initial tests showed around 60 hours, but we stay tuned for the review and its rating on our smartwatch list. )
Depending on the length of your ring, the Ring can last up to a week on a single charge, the lengths 12 and thirteen last longer than, say, my length 8 because they can hold a slightly larger battery. As someone who somewhat remembers putting the Watch Five Pro in a tester, this “wear it and wear it” is very refreshing. This might be my favorite feature of the Ring, because it’s one less thing I have to worry about most of the time. My doorbell always lasted six days before receiving a low battery notification, which shows when it drops to 15% so you don’t rate it. And if you find yourself in a tough situation, the deal can give you a quick boost.
If you’re a Samsung user, this Ring is designed for that ecosystem. I first used it with my Samsung watch, then switched to using only the Ring and had access to the full list of fitness trackers. Instead of being able to see it on my watch, I just opened the app on my phone, where I can see the knowledge tables, add voltage tracking, center frequency, and much more. It also told me at a glance how much time I was spending exhausting myself each week, which seemed like a wonderful way to get fitness data temporarily during my busy day.
The Samsung Galaxy Ring also features the new AI-powered Energy Score, a new feature that analyzes your fitness metrics (including sleep) and generates a number out of 100. Depending on where you get to 100, the fitness app asks you to take on the global or the rest. Samsung’s nickname is locked, so while you can still use the Ring as a Google Pixel user, for example, you don’t see your power score.
The power score is in practice, but it influenced my decisions too much for my comfort.
I love the concept. But when my Ring told me, “Rest is better,” I immediately grabbed my Amazon Kindle Paperwhite and slumped down on the couch instead of putting on my Meta Quest 3. That demotivated me to continue with the educational program I was looking to maintain. But if my wise ring tells me that I feel like a hot garbage dump from lack of sleep or movement, it must be true, right?And therein lies my concern. This is wonderful for recommending movements like resting, but be careful. so as not to take it too seriously.
It is vital to wear the ring as shown, as the chipsets and sensors are located on the back of the ring.
In speaking with Girish N. Nadkarni, MD, MPH, director of the Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, it turns out that my considerations were somewhat validated, albeit somewhat from a clinical standpoint. . view. “Many of those scores are not calibrated or validated against anything clinical,” Nadkarni warns. “Before clinical decisions can begin to be made, studies must be conducted on those wearable technologies, and they must be compared and calibrated against FDA technologies. “
However, all this is not just a warning. One day my energy score was 78 and I earned a “Get Moving” sign with the following advice: “You’ve been sedentary for over 11 hours and generally less active than usual. Not moving for long periods of time can lead to fitness disorders such as obesity and central diseases. Get up, stretch, and take a short walk. It definitely helped me get up from my desk, stretch, and start playing with my cats. And, as Nadkarni told me: “But as long as you’re not the ones making vital clinical decisions, and as long as you’re the ones living a more balanced and healthy lifestyle, I think they’ll do GOOD. “
I enjoyed being able to check my steps every day. I also appreciated being able to see my other paint metrics, although I had to jump into the app and launch them before my paints to record the information, as it should. I wouldn’t show up dressed in it at boxing or on the beach. , but it actually helped me get rid of my still after paints and improve my painting regimen. Another interesting thing I noticed: I had issues with other smart rings I tried to record my inputs, which wiped out my true daily movement stats. The ring doesn’t do that and it turns out that it keeps pretty accurate fitness metrics when I wear it, from my steps to my blood pressure and oxygen levels.
When placed on the magazine, the ring notch and red magazine mark line up.
Part of the reason I stopped wearing my watch is battery life, but the other reason is because of the exact measurements taken through the Ring. I felt like this made occasionally tracking my watch obsolete. Of course, the two charts are synchronized to provide you with more accurate fitness metrics through “talk to each other. ” But personally, and with a focus on my occasional fitness tracking business, I didn’t want it both ways. I didn’t want the strain of consistent notifications, and the Samsung Galaxy Ring did. the task alone.
The Samsung Galaxy Ring is the most productive first-generation fitness tracker and device I’ve tested all year. It is small, thin, delicate and elegant. Those who need a casual fitness tracker deserve to take advantage of it, as it lasts for several days before you want to recharge it without any further worries. There are no notifications, built-in apps, or other extras compared to its Wisewatch cousins. Just a smart fitness tracker that fits your finger.
What excites me about this device is that Samsung has worked hard to knock this fitness tracker out of the park. It doesn’t look like a first generation product. For me, I feel like Samsung has spent years designing this device to be the best. productive it can be from the beginning. At $400, it’s priced slightly higher than the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 ($299), but particularly lower than the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra ($649). And unlike its main competitor, the Oura Ring (Gen. 3), there are no more subscription fees to access all the features. You pay $400 and as of now, there are no features or paywall. I’m inspired and pleased to have gone from wearing my watch to wearing the Samsung Galaxy Ring exclusively.
I used the Samsung Galaxy Ring daily for a month. I checked the Samsung Health app several times a day while checking in with my Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro to see how the devices communicated with each other to track my fitness stats.
Eventually, I retired the Watch Five Pro and focused on just the Samsung Galaxy Ring as my daily fitness tracker. I checked my stats daily and monitored the battery life to get an idea of how long the device would last without a charger. Additionally, I reviewed the charging case to see how much battery life it can provide in a pinch and compared the charging times to Samsung’s claims.
Participated in panel discussions with Samsung executives, adding Dr. Hon Pak, Vice President of Samsung and Head of Digital Health Team, Mobile eXperience Business, on Smart Wearable Technology, to be informed on the nuances of Samsung’s wearable technology. I also spoke with Dr. Girish N. Nadkarni, director of the Charles Bronfman Institute for Personalized Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, for a clinical study on the accuracy and fitness tracking features of the Samsung Galaxy Ring.
As the consumer electronics and technology editor at Forbes Vetted, I’ve been covering the generation for more than five years. In addition to working with home entertainment, such as checking TVs for more productive gaming, I have also checked most of lacheck’s portable devices. Lately on the market, from Ray-Ban Meta Wise glasses to Apollo Wearable and more. I also checked most of the available Samsung mobile devices, adding the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. , the latter of which I used to check out the Samsung Galaxy Ring.
My time testing wearables focuses on everyone from casual ones who need simple, straightforward fitness tracking to fitness enthusiasts preparing for the next marathon. For this story, I focused on the new Ring as a whole, adding its accuracy as a first-generation fitness tracker and Galaxy AI’s newest features, such as Energy Score.