Samsung is betting big on the future of wearable health tech—and not in the form of a smartwatch.
Complementing the Samsung Galaxy ecosystem is the Galaxy Ring which is Samsung's first smart ring, combining minimalism with powerful health tracking features. It’s small, subtle, and stylish—but comes with a premium price tag.
Finally, Malaysia is set to sell the Galaxy Ring in stores, and we've received the opportunity to try it on for about a month. If you're thinking about getting one, here are some things to consider before you buy one.
Editor
Jodee Tan chevron_right
Table of Contents
Built & design
As a ring, there's not much to go around in terms of fancy designs. Samsung keeps their Galaxy Ring looking simple, being made of Titanium, rendering it as lightweight and durable. Colours available are in Titanium Black, Silver, and Gold. Our unit is the Titanium Silver and we suspect this was a lucky pick, more on this later.
While the Ring feels a little thicker than normal rings, it's still quite comfortable to wear, weighing just 2.3g–3g depending on your finger size—which you'll need to head to the store to try as fit matters for tracking. The ring is also rated at IP68 + 10ATM, meaning you can swim, sweat, or shower without worry.
Washing hands with soap? Definitely no problem (it's actually the first time we washed a gadget with soap). In short, it's perfect to wear for 24/7.
Battery, app & OS support
For wear, Samsung recommends having the Galaxy Ring on the right index finger.
The Galaxy Ring has a battery life of up to 7 days on a single charge. It charges via the Ring Box which is quite a looker, resembling a certain brand's signature aesthetic.
Should you pair the Galaxy Ring with the Galaxy Watch, the battery optimisation gets better and more accurate since power and performance is split between the two.
Galaxy Ring has several sensors for tracking your vitals: Optical heart rate monitor, temperature sensor, skin conductivity sensor, and accelerometer. Currently, the Galaxy Ring also has gesture support, which you can "pinch" to take a photo on your phone. Quite limiting, but this is a start.
Centered on wellness and recovery, the Galaxy Ring plays on its generation of “Energy Score” to help users understand recovery, readiness, and stress levels.
To access health information, just use the Samsung Health app on your phone, tap on the Ring icon and enjoy the insights. Speaking of which, the Galaxy Ring is best used with Samsung smartphones and Galaxy Watches.
The Galaxy Ring also has enhanced tracking with AI-based insights and even cycle predictions for female users. Like most Samsung products, the Galaxy Ring would have limited support on non Samsung products, and no iOS support at all.
What we liked
- Comfort & wear
I'm glad Samsung has made the Galaxy Ring with rounded edges, which is something not even most regular rings have.
It's already a given for a tech gadget like the Galaxy Ring to be thick, and so it is unlikely to leave uncomfortable marks. For a wearable, this is definitely a big part that would make or break the Galaxy Ring, so kudos to Samsung for the Galaxy Ring's hollistic design.
Compared to the Galaxy Watch S7, I could wear this comfortably in the shower and to bed. It's also more subtle and sleek in design, and should pair well with your everyday outfits easily. While those with feminine taste may find the Galaxy Ring is a little too "bulky", this is a subjective view and an "irk" easily forgotten about.
I'm also someone who likes wearing accessories thus my view on here might differ than other users.
- Design & durability
One thing I am impressed with is the durability of the Galaxy Ring.
In the whole of the month wearing the Galaxy Ring, my Silver unit hardly had any marks or scratches. The Silver Galaxy Ring feels matte and smooth to the touch, so naturally I was worried about random scratches forming. To my surprise, despite going on public transportation and being clumsy wherever I went or whatever I held, the Galaxy Ring remains in a pristine state to date.
Now, I have reasons to believe this is based on the colour you choose too.
When having the opportunity to touch the Galaxy Rings of acquaintances who have the Gold or Black version; they looked more metallic than matte, and so it felt as if fingerprints and scratches may appear more easily—especially on the Gold variant—than on the Silver variant.
Therefore, if this is your concern, it's better to personally go to the store to try out the Galaxy Ring.
Note: Like the standard fine jewellery, it's best to take off the Galaxy Ring when you are handling cleaning products with harsh chemicals, or when handling Gym equipment.
- Battery Life
A reason you'd want to consider the Galaxy Ring is for the battery life. While Samsung has claimed a battery life of up to 7 days, the Ring average about 5 to 6 days for us when worn without the Galaxy Watch S7 (which has an average battery of 3 days for us).
Another big win was that the charger box, much like modern wireless earbuds now, is portable so that fact extends our wear out of the battery life much easily than usual smartwatch chargers which are usually in a cable wire form.
What we disliked
- Tracking accuracy
There's only a single common worry and that is the accuracy of tracking.
Despite its promising sensors which should be in their advanced state thanks to the heritage of Samsung health and tech, we find the Galaxy Ring to have mis-calculated statistics we've generated. It either over or under estimated stats when compared to our usual scheduled exercises. In fact, our health-conscious video editor finds it miscalculated information by about 20% off.
Sure, light-impact exercises shouldn't worry you especially if you just want a complementary item to track your daily vitals casually, but fans of smartwatch tracking would be disappointed with the accuracy.
Simply put, if anyone is planning to have the Galaxy Ring replace their smartwatches for casual wear in order to monitor serious health concerns, we suggest not to do so at the moment... at least not until Samsung comes in with newer generations equipped with more acute sensors for even more accurate tracking.
Verdict - Who is it for?
All in all, the idea and wear of the Galaxy Ring is great. While opinions are slightly mixed in our team, I personally love the Galaxy Ring for its simplicity, also given the fact that it's made for people like me who love their quiet "luxuries".
Yes, we think Samsung Galaxy Ring is, at this point, a luxury and not as big as a necessity compared to the Galaxy Watch series. As a wearable, tracking accuracy is a big part of what should make the Galaxy Ring, and it's not quite there yet.
Yet, I must say that health tracking rings are still a niche that's new in the market and thus, considered in their infancy stage at the moment.
Additionally, if you are not a Samsung phone user, the Ring might be lacking in features for you to justify it. If you're an iPhone user, you're out of luck with the Galaxy Ring unless you want to switch to a Samsung soon.
Something that would be nice is if the Ring can track body temperature to act as an accurate thermometer. This feature would be helpful in detecting incoming fevers and such.
Overall, Samsung Galaxy Ring feels exciting and fun to wear. I hope Samsung takes the feedback seriously to improve newer Galaxy Ring generations to come so those who loves quiet accessories like me would find even more joy to own the Galaxy Ring.
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