Galaxy adds "brother" to its lineup, Samsung introduces smart ring for the first time, Galaxy Ring monitors health all day, AI analyzes sleep

Author: Li Dan

Source: Hard AI

In a move to integrate smartphones and wearable devices, Samsung, on Wednesday, July 10th, unveiled a new "companion" for its smartphones under the Samsung brand - the smart ring Galaxy Ring. This is Samsung's latest effort to provide health tracking features by combining smartphones and wearable devices.

At the Galaxy Unpacked event held in Paris on July 10th, the Galaxy Ring was introduced with a starting price of 399.99 euros, and a domestic price of 3099 yuan in China. The product was available for pre-order on the same day and officially launched on July 24th.

In terms of design, the Galaxy Ring is available in three colors: titanium black, titanium gold, and titanium silver. It comes in nine sizes, with weights ranging from 2.3 grams to 3 grams depending on the specific size purchased. Samsung introduced that the ring has a unique concave design, ensuring durability and adding a sense of fashion. It has a 10ATM waterproof performance, a surface treated with a 5-level titanium alloy, making it suitable for wearing in any occasion. The battery life of the ring can last up to seven days, and it comes with a specially designed fast charging case for assistance.

The Galaxy Ring is equipped with an optical heart rate sensor, blood oxygen monitor, skin temperature sensor, and accelerometer. It offers mainstream health monitoring functions 24 hours a day, supported by artificial intelligence (AI) software. The related tracking data is synchronized via Bluetooth to Samsung's health application, App Samsung Health. These functions include:

• Advanced sleep tracking: The Galaxy Ring can monitor users' activities, sleep latency, heart rate, and respiratory rate during sleep, record data during sleep, analyze it with AI-supported Samsung Health, and provide suggestions to improve sleep quality. These data are input into the user's Energy Score, which is a single health indicator based on the user's sleep, recent exercise and recovery, and daily activities.
• Menstrual cycle monitoring: Samsung claims that using skin temperature helps track the menstrual cycle of female users. Earlier reports suggested that the Galaxy Ring could also track pregnancy or fertility, but this is not the case in reality.
• Heart rate monitoring: The Galaxy Ring can notify users when their heart rate is abnormally high or low. Users can also check their heart rate in real time.
• Exercise monitoring: The Galaxy Ring can automatically detect the type of exercise or activity the user is engaged in.

It is widely believed that Galaxy Ring is the arch-rival of the Finnish company Oura's ring, Qura Ring. Qura Ring is currently the king of the smart ring market, with a 52% market share and over 2.5 million units sold. Unlike Qura Ring, which needs to be used with Android and iPhone phones, Galaxy Ring requires a Galaxy phone to work together.

Samsung is trying to tightly integrate users with its product ecosystem through Galaxy Ring. The functions of Galaxy Ring also confirm this point. For example, when connected to a Galaxy smartphone, users can "double-tap" with their fingers to answer phone calls or "remote control" the phone to take photos.

Earlier reports claimed that Galaxy Ring would be able to control other devices. However, it turns out that this information is not entirely accurate. Galaxy Ring only supports gestures to operate the phone's camera shutter and turn off the alarm, which are not essential functions.

Some users on social media have optimistic comments, stating that the initial response to Galaxy Ring has been positive, and for Samsung, it may change the game rules. If Apple were to release a smart ring like iRing in the future, it would not be surprising. Some users also question the need for Galaxy Ring if their smartwatch already has health tracking capabilities.