Why the Samsung Galaxy Ring, 2024's biggest (and smallest) wearable, is our Health & Fitness Device of the Year

Someone had to buckle first. While tech companies astir nan world person been making nan champion smartwatches pinch accordant capacity improvements nether nan hood pinch each generation, aesthetically, nobody’s really taken immoderate risks. Every year, nan best Apple Watch, Pixel Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch etc. looks nan aforesaid arsenic nan 1 earlier it, and though nan capacity improvements are great, wearables fans person been crying retired for a extremist alteration successful creation direction.

Enter nan Samsung Galaxy Ring, which managed to return Samsung’s existing wellness exertion infrastructure, some hardware and software, and miniaturize it to fresh into a full caller shape factor. Up until now, nan best smart rings were nan state of start-ups for illustration Oura and Ultrahuman, pinch nan highest-profile offering being nan Oura Ring. But Samsung was nan first awesome tech institution to return a consequence and merchandise a smart ring, winning our TechRadar Choice Awards 2024 gong for Health & Fitness Product of nan Year.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch statement already gave Samsung a terrific commencement erstwhile it came to slumber tracking, activity monitoring and sensors to support an oculus connected bosom rate, tegument temperature, humor oxygen and more. The algorithms and slumber profiles (or “chronotypes” to usage nan technological term) came pinch actionable proposal to thief amended your sleep, and while this tin beryllium banal, mundane tips you tin find anyplace (try mounting and sticking to a bedtime, effort turning disconnected screens earlier sleep, yadda yadda) chronotypes let for genuinely individual penetration into your habits.

Combined pinch Samsung’s automatic activity tracking, logging by itself erstwhile you’re retired for a locomotion aliases run, nan Galaxy Watch infrastructure was cleanable for a smaller wearable: each Samsung had to do was compression those into a ring, and make judge nan ringing could sync up pinch nan already-existing Samsung Health app via Bluetooth.

Without a screen, nan Samsung Galaxy Ring is simply a set-and-forget passive tracker, for illustration each smart rings truthful far, truthful nan artillery doesn’t person a batch to do successful position of powerfulness output aliases interaction: conscionable capable to support nan sensors and Bluetooth relationship running. Without overmuch powerfulness output from a comparatively mini 18 - 23.5mAh battery, this allows nan ringing to past up for a week, which is cleanable for slumber tracking.

The extremity consequence was a rousing occurrence by each metrics. I really enjoyed wearing it, and I gave it 4.5 stars successful my Samsung Galaxy Ring review. I said “Samsung's first-generation Galaxy Ring is this year's wearable to get, if you tin tummy nan precocious value point”. However, moreover that remark has aged well: it’s besides subscription-free, dissimilar Oura, truthful moreover though it’s a premium merchandise (costing a hefty $400 / £400 / AU$699 for specified a mini device), it’s a victor from a worth constituent of view.

It’s perfect for wellness information nerds, athletes willing successful recovery, and Android users looking for a top-of-the-range activity tracker. It besides became a income hit, and we person nary doubts that a Galaxy Ring 2 is already successful nan works. It’s a landmark infinitesimal successful wearable exertion history, and our wellness and fittingness merchandise of nan twelvemonth for 2024.