While some smaller companies have already brought smart ring wearables to the market, Samsung is the first of the major players to unveil their vision for the emerging tech. Samsung Galaxy Ring is an unobtrusive wearable that doesn’t distract or add screen time to your day. It monitors what you want it to, and has a few tricks up its sleeve for Galaxy smartphone owners, including one which I found surprisingly handy. Pun unavoidable.
Read More: Samsung Galaxy S24 FE review – For More than Fans
There are also two advantages that you would expect Samsung to bring over the extant competition – their knack for visual design and miniaturisation. And Galaxy Ring does indeed bear those qualities, and, going off my first impressions, it’s a great first try.
Home Sizing
Before Samsung sent the review device, they sent a sizing kit – a series of mock-up Galaxy Rings to try on. Samsung suggests that, after you find the size from the nine provided (Sizes 5-13) that fits best during the initial self-sizing, you should wear the ring for more than 24 hours, including while sleeping, to see if it’s perfectly comfortable. It was, so I requested my size.
Proposal Packaging
Samsung Galaxy Ring comes packaged in its small ring box-style charging case, which makes it feel a bit more like a piece of jewellery than a piece of tech. It also feels a bit like Samsung are proposing to you. I said ‘Yes’, for the record.
On opening the box, Galaxy Ring goes into pairing mode. It’s a seamless easy set-up over Bluetooth. The case has a clear and colourless housing so you can see if your ring is in there, and how far along your ring is during the charging process. I love the fact that the charging case has its own battery to charge the Ring anywhere.
Read More: Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra review – All On the Wrist
The housing also sport a single button, used to check on the battery status of the charging case, or to pair your Ring to another device after initial setup. The case charges via USB-C.
Smart Jewellery
Samsung Galaxy Ring comes in three colours – gold, silver and black. All three wear a brushed titanium with a concave band of the metal on the outside. My ‘Titanium Black’ review model is simultaneously muted and eye-catching.
Samsung Galaxy Ring in black looks cool, and a little bit mysterious – several people have already asked about the Ring on my left index finger.
Read More: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 review – Safe Choice Foldable
Looking closely, you can see a plastic innard to the housing. At the right, you can see ambient light catch the translucent inner ring. And when looking at the palm side of the finger, you can see sensors a-sensing.
One Feature to Rule Them All
Samsung Galaxy Ring is designed to be as unobtrusive as possible, and to provide little distraction. Ideally, you will forget about Ring until your phone asks you to charge it.
However, there are two gestures available on the devices using One UI 6.1.1 or later. You can switch off your alarm from the comfort of your bed, or take a photo, by tapping the finger on which you are wearing the device off your thumb twice.
Being able to set down your phone and snap when you want is handier than you would think. And the implementation is thoughtful, there is a small delay between the double tap and the photo being snapped so you don’t end up snapped too quickly after the gesture and your hand is making an ‘O’ in every photo.
Health and Well-Being
Samsung Galaxy Ring is a mostly passive device that sits feeding your Samsung Wear App. From here, you can check on your sleep, heart rate, temperature, steps and other health metrics devised from Galaxy Ring accelerometer, optical Heart Rate sensor, temperature sensor.
Samsung AI can also offer health and well-being tips based on your data, as well as pitch into your health profile. You can enable Heart Rate SOS – a feature that alerts you via your phone if your heart rate gets too high or too low. Galaxy can also tell you if you have been sitting too long.
One cool feature you may not realise Samsung Galaxy Ring has is the ability to save battery by pairing it with a Galaxy Watch. The Watch will take some of the sensing load off of your Galaxy Ring, and extend its time between charges.
Light Finger
I knew that Samsung Galaxy Ring would weigh 2.8 grams, but the light weight still surprised me. At around 1.3mm, it’s not really any thicker than a normal men’s ring, and doesn’t take long to feel comfortable on my non-dominant hand’s index finger – where Samsung suggests users wear their device.
It didn’t take too long after that for me to forgot its there, like with regular ornamental rings.
Read More: Samsung Galaxy S24+ long-term review – AI Companion Settles In
There is a small raised line on the outer of the ring that isn’t too obvious to look at, but can easily be found by touch. This indicates the bottom of the ring, and helps you line the sensors up correctly with the pad of the finger on the palm side of the hand.
Three Charging Options
Samsung Galaxy Ring itself charged in its smart case, which shows you how long it will take to charge via a cool-looing ring-shaped LED. The case houses a small battery, around 1.5 charges worth, so you can charge you Galaxy Ring wherever and whenever you like.
One feature I was excited about when announced was the ability to charge the case by multiple methods. Galaxy Ring’s charging case uses USB-C for wired charging, and can also be charged wirelessly using the Qi-standard, and on the back of phones with reverse wireless charging.
Specifications – Samsung Galaxy Ring
| Sensors/Trackers: | Accelerometer, Optical Heart Rate Sensor, Temperature Sensor |
| Durability: | 810 ATM, IP68 |
| Storage: | 8MB |
| Phone OS: | Android 11 or later Some features only available with Samsung One UI 6.1.1 |
| Battery: | Li-Po 18.5-22-5mAh depending on Galaxy Ring size Charging case contains around 1.5 full charges for Ring |
| Charging: | Case: USB-C, Qi Wireless, and Reverse Wireless Charing from compatible devices Ring: via the case only |
| Connectivity: | – Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e, Wi-Fi Direct – Bluetooth 5.3, A2DP, LE – GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS |
| Dimensions: | Galaxy Ring: 7.0mm diameter x 2.8mm deep x c. 1.3mm thick Case: 48.9mm x 48.9mm x 24.5mm |
| Weight: | Galaxy Ring: 2.8g Case: 61.3g |
| Colours: | Titanium Black, Gold, Silver |
Samsung Galaxy Ring is available in Ireland from Samsung Ireland at €449. Galaxy Ring is available in three colours – Titanium Black, Titanium Gold and Titanium Silver.
