Samsung Galaxy Ring review

26 August 2024

Wearables recently gained a new form factor with a few different companies having already released a smart ring. However, Samsung is by far the biggest company to enter this space and as such its entry has the greatest potential of all. The company first teased the Galaxy Ring during MWC 2024 in February, but it took another almost four more months before the product went official.

The Galaxy Ring became official on July 10, launching in a number of different markets and coming in US ring sizes 5-13. The different sizes also come with one of three different battery capacities - the larger rings taking advantage of their extra space to provide longer endurance. We tested a Size 11 in Black and used it long enough for the Galaxy AI to kick in, and here’s what we discovered.

Unboxing and operation

Each Galaxy Ring purchase comes with a free sizing kit. Samsung sends you a kit with the plastic models in the different sizes and it suggests you wear the those for at least 24 hours to make sure it's comfortable before deciding on a size.

Our review unit was size 11 and it weighs just under 3 grams with its 18 mAh battery. It's extremely lightweight so you almost immediately stop feeling its presence, but it's not a small ring so you will be aware of it when you use that hand.

Being so lightweight it doesn't really have the same feeling as a regular ring, but the unobtrusiveness is certainly a bonus when you consider this is a health tracker targeting a much wider audience.

The concave design is eye-catching, and Samsung added a small mark indicating which side should face down. It houses three crucial sensors: an optical bio-signal sensor for heart rate monitoring, a skin temperature sensor for tracking sleep, and an accelerometer for tracking movement.

The Galaxy Ring doesn’t vibrate, move, or light up except for its HR sensor. The sensors do glow during readings, but with their positioning between the ring and your finger you are unlikely to notice them.

Samsung made it sound like you need a Galaxy smartphone to use the Galaxy Ring to its full potential, but the truth is it pairs seamlessly with any Android phone with Samsung's Wearable and Health apps. We tested it with an Honor phone and the only thing we lost is the gesture controls to mute the alarm or function as a remote shutter. Still our main review was conducted using a Galaxy phone within the Samsung ecosystem.

Health tracking

The Wearable app handles setup, updates, and battery management, while the Health app does the everyday feedback. Galaxy AI is supposed to flex its muscle here, using the biometric data to provide you some valuable insights.

Arguably the most interesting feature is the energy score, that is supposed to reflect your current physical and mental condition. Factors like sleep quality, heart rate, and activity levels are all factored in in this score.

It took a week of continuous wearing for the AI to started recognizing patterns — highlighting days with above average activity and suggesting possible reasons for restless nights. It even recognized things like alcohol consumption or external disturbances with impressive accuracy.

The other key feature, enabled by the Galaxy Ring's barely felt presence is sleep tracking. Unlike those bulkier watches the Ring is far less bothersome to wear at night, which means a lot more people would be inclined to wear it at night.

Samsung Health provided what we found to be very accurate sleep tracking and then uses those to offer sleep insights. We found it spot-on in identifying areas for improvement.

There’s an attempt of gamifying to it as well — each score range corresponds to an animal, motivating you to reach the next category. The ring even tracks snoring (with help from the phone’s mic) and alerts you of that.

The final arrow in the Galaxy Ring's quiver is controlling your phone with a pinch gesture. It currently only does two things - you can use it as a remote shutter or simply silence an alarm without reaching over to your phone. Right now it only works on phones running OneUI 6.1.1 and Samsung recommends you wear the ring on the index finger for most accurate detection of the gesture.

The Galaxy Ring is not afraid to get wet with 10ATM water resistance and an IP68 rating. Being on you finger it gets wet constantly as you wash your hands, but we are pleased to report it doesn't affect its performance in any way.

The Titanium it's made of is rather durable as well, though it did pick up a couple of minor scratches when we did some barbell work with it. The smart thing is, of course not to wear rings in the gym, but we used this as more of durability test. We recon the Ring will hold up well after a year or two of wearing, and it will take quite a while for it to start showing its age, depending on how often your hand bumps into harder materials than titanium.

When it comes to fitness tracking, Samsung touts automatic activity detection. In practice, the ring recognizes movement quickly and accurately, but the overall running companion experience is mediocre. Without GPS, it relies solely on the accelerometer, providing less accurate data for speed and distance.

We compared it against a Huawei Watch, and the Strava app on the Galaxy phone, and the ring consistently delivered the least reliable stats. It struggled to differentiate between running and walking, and it's not ideal for anyone taking running seriously, let alone other sports.

Finally, let's talk battery life. Samsung claims up to six days of endurance for the size 11 Galaxy Ring, but in our tests, it lasted about five. The ring charges fully in under 60 minutes, and the case, which supports wireless charging, can fill the Ring's battery twice before needing a top-up.

Samsung claims you'll get 30% longer endurance if you carry the Ring alongside a Galaxy Watch as it likely offloads some of the measurements to the Watch with its larger battery. However we don't see much point in getting both, unless you really need the sleep tracking data, but can't stand sleeping with a watch.

Verdict

Samsung Galaxy Ring aims to be a trailblazing health tracker, creating an entire new product category. While there are other smart rings out there, Samsung's sheer distribution network and marketing budget means it will have no trouble overtaking those that came before it. But that's certainly not where the company's ambitions end.

The Galaxy Ring has to convince a large number of people that they need another tech accessory in their lives. Does it have it what it takes?

It does look the part and we really feel it's far more comfortable to sleep with, making it a better sleep tracker. The AI suggestions are helpful and the user-friendly app interface mean tech enthusiasts will at least have it on their short list.

There's also the matter of battery life, where the Galaxy Ring has an edge of the Galaxy Watch series. It doesn't last as long as proprietary OS watches from other makers, though, so this is not an outright selling point.

The main obstacle on the way to wide adoption remains the pricing. The Galaxy Ring is $399/£399/€449, which while not a huge sum on its own makes it more expensive the the Galaxy Watch 7, which is an undeniably more versatile device.

Even with the promise that the excellent Health app won't ever require a paid subscription (the way some competing rings do), a miniaturized smart band without a display, is quite hard to justify at the price above a full-featured WearOS watch.

But perhaps we are just looking at it all wrong - jewerly is not meant to be the most rational of purchases and the Galaxy Ring is doing a great job of embellishing your finger. The whole tracking thing then just comes as a nice little perk.