The Galaxy Ring\u2019s weight and design<\/h2>\n
Of all the wearables available, rings are among the smallest and lightest. My Galaxy Ring is a size seven, which is the third tiniest Samsung makes. That puts it at about 2.3 grams, or just under 0.1 ounces light, which is about half the 4 to 6 grams that Oura\u2019s rings weigh, depending on their size.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n Thanks to that lack of weight and the device\u2019s slim profile, I barely feel it on my finger when trying to fall asleep, which, for a sensitive sleeper like me, is a huge deal. The only thing that sometimes bothers me are the red and green LEDs flashing in my dark bedroom, but they\u2019re not so bright to keep me up after I close my eyes.<\/p>\n I\u2019m extremely finicky, and don\u2019t like wearing a ring when my hands are even the slightest bit wet, so I frequently took the wearable off. But if you\u2019re less sensitive than me, you\u2019ll be happy to know the Galaxy Ring will survive soap and running water. I wore it while washing my hands a few times, taking the ring off afterwards for my fingers to fully dry. When I eventually put the device back on after having applied lotion and sunscreen, I was happy to see that the creams did not get in the way of its sensors getting readings.<\/p>\n Because I frequently took the ring on and off, I did have mini panic attacks a few times when I thought it fell out of my pocket. Thankfully, in those situations, I was able to use Samsung\u2019s location-tracking app to see that it wasn\u2019t too far away and was likely in my pants. The problem with the ring\u2019s lack of components, though, is that I can\u2019t play an audible alarm to help find it.<\/p>\n That absence of features is a compromise I\u2019m happy to make in exchange for the Galaxy Ring\u2019s barely-there footprint. What Samsung does offer here also feels good enough for a basic health tracker, though it does pale in comparison to the competition.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve mostly used the Galaxy Ring to track my sleep and general activity, since it doesn\u2019t log any workout beyond walking and running. For the most part, all I really have to do with the ring is make sure I place it on my index finger, where it fits more snugly than the middle. This helps ensure my blood oxygen readings are accurate, or I end up with numbers that are wildly low.<\/p>\n Beyond that, I spent most of my testing time on Samsung\u2019s Wear and Health apps, poring over my sleep data. We\u2019ve come a long way since the early days where Fitbits only looked at the duration of your rest, guessing based on how still you are whether you\u2019ve fallen asleep. These days, using your heart rate to determine whether you\u2019re in REM or deep sleep is table stakes, and on that front Samsung delivers as expected.<\/p>\n I obviously can\u2019t tell you what stages I\u2019m in as I sleep, but I did like that Samsung not only presents the data clearly, but also adds helpful context. It tells me why it\u2019s important to have time in the REM zone, and whether 11 minutes in deep sleep was enough for recovery. The app also helps me understand how I compare to other people, without me having to navigate to a separate app or browser. I did find that the Ring noted accurately what times I fell asleep and awoke, and even logged a midday nap in the app (though it didn\u2019t show sleep cycle data for that period).<\/p>\n It took a few days, but once a baseline was established, the Galaxy Ring started telling me what my skin temperature was throughout the night, highlighting my peak and lowest numbers. I\u2019ve been pleasantly surprised to find that my coldest temperature to date has been on one night in Singapore, which goes against my assumption that the local heat and humidity would affect these readings.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been mollifying to see that my stats seem normal, although my blood oxygen levels have varied wildly depending on which finger I wear the ring on. It\u2019s even gone as low as 76 percent, which would be concerning, but I\u2019ve stopped caring much about that section of my sleep insights, since it seems my review unit might be a little loose.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to spend as much time as I do digging into the numbers \u2014 Samsung, like most other modern sleep-tracking services, will assign a sleep score to tell you how well you slept. There are also graphs to help you understand your trends at a glance.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to note that Samsung said the energy score, sleep tracking and Wellness Tips features are based on Galaxy AI, meaning they\u2019ll require a Galaxy phone, Samsung Health app and Samsung account to work.<\/p>\n Samsung\u2019s ring might not track a wide variety of exercises, but the data it does gather is surprisingly comprehensive. I was fully expecting the walks it automatically detected to only show me basic stats like duration and, perhaps, step count. But it actually presented my average speed, cadence, heart rate, heart rate zones, calories burned and distance traveled too.<\/p>\n I\u2019m pretty impressed, but I must point out that Oura offers a Workout heart rate feature<\/a> that lets you manually start and end heart-rate tracking sessions from your phone. It also automatically detects at least 40 different activities<\/a>, including yardwork, cycling, snowboarding, horseback riding and HIIT. Oura also frequently adds new metrics like cardiovascular age and capacity, as well as experimental features like Symptom Radar to guess when you might not be feeling well. It\u2019s ahead of Samsung in the game here and seems to be fighting to keep that gap open. I guess if you\u2019re going to pay an extra $6 a month, you better get a significantly superior service.<\/p>\n In my experience, both Samsung and Oura are fairly accurate at tracking activity. In the last few days, I\u2019ve been surprised to see the Galaxy Ring had tracked pretty much every time I went with my parents to a nearby hawker center, even though the walks only took fewer than 10 minutes. Compared to the Apple Watch Series 9 I usually wear, Samsung is more likely to include a short trip in its app\u2019s activity log, which was not only more rewarding but also felt like a more complete picture of my day.<\/p>\n One area where the Galaxy Ring (and rings in general) falls short of smartwatches is in delivering any sort of notification. As an activity tracker, this is mainly a problem when it comes to pushing stand reminders. Both Samsung and Oura will serve alerts on your phone when you\u2019ve been stationary for too long, prompting you to get up and move. Wristworn wearables typically buzz and tell you on the screen, and it\u2019s a lot harder to miss or ignore them. I\u2019ve definitely had a few days where I was in an editing or writing hole and only noticed numerous alerts to move hours later when I looked at my Galaxy phone.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t a major problem, and is another small tradeoff I\u2019m happy to accept since the Ring is so small. But I do have two specific complaints for Samsung, and they both pertain to the app. My first issue is the confusing interface for automatic activity detection. When you go into the Ring\u2019s settings to enable this (which is unfortunately not turned on by default), you\u2019ll see the words \u201cActivities to detect\u201d under a tinier label called \u201cAuto detect workouts.\u201d Next to the larger font is a grayed out toggle that turns blue when you slide it to the right.<\/p>\n Pushing this switch on didn\u2019t actually enable the feature. Tapping on the words \u201cActivities to detect\u201d brought me into a different page with rows for \u201cWalking\u201d and \u201cRunning,\u201d each accompanied by their own toggles. You\u2019ll also have to press each of these activities to go into another page and turn on location tracking. Because of this, I spent my first few days with the Galaxy Ring confused why my walks weren\u2019t being logged, despite having turned on the main toggle. A better layout with improved organization that requires fewer taps and pages would really help here.<\/p>\n My other gripe is a more specific situation. As I\u2019m concurrently testing the Galaxy Watch Ultra, the information collected by that smartwatch is also considered by Samsung Health when calculating my energy score. This is actually a good thing, as I\u2019d prefer to use a Galaxy Watch to log my gym sessions and rely on the ring everywhere else. But because the Galaxy Watch Ultra is so inaccurate when it\u2019s not being worn, it actually recorded random workout sessions, like two bike rides that I never took. This caused the Health app to think I had overexerted myself and it ended up recommending I take it super easy the next day, when in reality I had done very little.<\/p>\n Yes, I can manually delete these entries, but when I\u2019m busy and just want to glance at my energy score, this causes confusion. Why was my score so low? Did I somehow sleep poorly? I can already imagine hypochondriacs spiraling if they didn\u2019t know what happened.<\/p>\n Luckily, Samsung clearly labels at the bottom of each workout record which device detected the activity. This is unlikely to be a huge problem unless you have both the Galaxy Ring and Watch like I do, and is something that seems easy enough to fix.<\/p>\n Samsung says the Galaxy Ring can deliver \u201ccontinuous usage\u201d for up to seven days, and in my experience that\u2019s fairly accurate. But you\u2019ll have to be able to tolerate seeing the battery levels drop all the way to zero to get the full week. In the two weeks or so that I\u2019ve worn the ring, it consistently dropped to under 20 percent by day six, and would basically die on day seven.<\/p>\n Charging the device\u2019s 18mAh battery shouldn\u2019t take too long. Samsung says 30 minutes will get you 40 percent of the way, and when I placed the Ring in its case for about 5 minutes, it went up by two percent. If I hadn\u2019t been trying to gauge its battery life for this review, I would probably have recharged it any time I wasn\u2019t wearing it, and likely wouldn\u2019t have ever run out of juice.<\/p>\n For its debut smart ring, Samsung\u2019s delivered a satisfactory product that mostly delivers. Compared to the Oura ring, the Galaxy Ring is perfunctory. The main bonus Samsung had over the competition is its double pinch gesture, that can dismiss alarms or remotely launch the camera on your Samsung phone. I wasn\u2019t able to test this feature because I tested the Ring with a Galaxy S24, and it\u2019s only compatible with the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6. Samsung says double-pinch functionality is coming to the S24 lineup soon.<\/p>\n Unlike the Oura ring, Samsung\u2019s wearable doesn\u2019t work with iPhones, though rumors are rife that iOS support is coming. For now, if you\u2019re in Apple\u2019s ecosystem you won\u2019t be able to use the Galaxy Ring. Those who use a Samsung phone are more likely to appreciate the Galaxy Ring most. Other integrations like Find My and Samsung Health are available to anyone that installs the SmartThings app and has a Samsung account.<\/p>\n Though the Galaxy Ring is fairly basic at the moment, it seems to have a lot of potential. Samsung needs to continue to invest in research to expand the insights it could deliver with the limited set of data the ring collects. Given the company\u2019s history with bringing new features to its watches, Health app and the Z series of foldable phones so far, it might just do that. If you\u2019re happy to spend $400 on a low-profile wearable sleep tracker that also logs your walks or runs, the Galaxy Ring will do the job.<\/p>\nThe Galaxy Ring as a sleep tracker<\/h2>\n
The Galaxy Ring as an activity tracker<\/h2>\n
My problems with Samsung Health<\/h2>\n
The Galaxy Ring\u2019s battery life<\/h2>\n
Other issues<\/h2>\n
Wrap-up<\/h2>\n