I’m a longtime Apple Watch user who is starting to see the appeal of smart rings after ignoring them for years. It’s not because Samsung’s Galaxy Ring might be the first such product from a big tech giant. Or the rumors that Apple is working on its own Apple Ring.
The way I use the Apple Watch makes me consider smart wearables that do not have displays but can offer detailed health and fitness tracking features. Smart rings might help with that, though I will also admit I’m not fully ready to ditch the Apple Watch display.
While we wait to see what the Galaxy Ring is really about and how much it’ll cost, it’s worth remembering there is already a smart ring option available. The Oura Ring has been around for years, and you can buy it from Amazon right now. The company just announced the new partnership after the successful retail collaboration Oura started with Best Buy last year.
This could make the Oura Ring easier to order and more widely available. Oura already has an Amazon store page that lists all of its products.
First of all, you should get a $10 sizing kit to determine which size you should go for. You shouldn’t order an Oura Ring directly unless you know your size.
Regarding actual smart ring choices, you get to choose between the two Oura Ring 3 designs and their various finishing options.
The Oura Ring 3 Heritage and Horizon are made of titanium and have the same hardware capabilities. They’re slightly different when it comes to design. The Heritage model features a plateau design, while the Horizon is a perfect circle. I’m a fan of the latter, even though Horizon costs $50 more. I’ll also note that Horizon is similar to Samsung’s Galaxy Ring ring design.
Once you get your size and model, you can choose between four finishes for the Heritage option (silver, black, stealth, and gold) and six finishes for the Horizon (silver, black, stealth, brushed titanium, gold, and rose gold).
Prices start at $299 and $349, depending on Oura Ring design, and can go up to $449 and $549 depending on finish. Each purchase comes with a free month of Oura Membership, which costs $5.99 a month afterward.
Regardless of design choice and finish, the Oura Ring 3 will offer the same set of health and fitness features. The rings monitor heart rate, sleep, stress, activity, and recovery.
The Oura Rings also support women’s health. They can estimate the start of the period and power Natural Cycles, the first FDA-cleared birth control app.
The Oura Ring monitors the temperature for period tracking. But it also uses temperature together with heart rate changes to try to detect the onset of illness.
All that health data is available in the smartphone app, where Oura uses scores to assess activity, sleep, and readiness.
The Oura Ring 3 will work for seven days before a recharge is needed. On that note, Samsung’s Galaxy Ring might last for nine days. However, we have no idea how Samsung’s wearable compares in terms of health and fitness tracking.
It’ll be a while until Samsung unveils the Galaxy Ring. As for the Apple Ring, we only have rumors for now. But the Oura Ring 3 is available on Amazon US right away. International buyers won’t find the ring in Amazon’s local stores, however.
