Smart Rings Compared: A Guide to Health & Wellness Tracking

By: Jessica Miller

3 Minute read

Category: tech

The Verge's Best Smart Rings: A Review Roundup

The Verge’s article on the best smart rings provides a comprehensive overview of the burgeoning market, highlighting key players and their strengths. The review doesn't focus on a single product, but rather compares several, making it a useful guide for potential buyers. Here's a breakdown of the key takeaways:

Overall Market Landscape:

The article positions smart rings as a more subtle and potentially more comfortable alternative to smartwatches for tracking health and wellness metrics. They excel at continuous monitoring of data like heart rate, sleep, and activity, often with longer battery life. However, they generally lack the screen-based functionality of smartwatches, relying on smartphone apps for data presentation. The market is still relatively new, with ongoing innovation and varying levels of feature maturity.

Key Contenders & Their Strengths:

Oura Ring Generation 3: Consistently positioned as the leader, the Oura Ring focuses heavily on sleep tracking and recovery. The review praises its accuracy in sleep stage detection, heart rate variability (HRV) analysis, and temperature sensing (useful for illness detection and cycle tracking). It’s known for its comfortable design and long battery life (around 7 days). However, it requires a subscription for full access to insights, which is a recurring cost. The Gen3 also offers guided meditation and sleep content.
Circular Ring Slim: A strong competitor aiming to challenge Oura. The Circular Ring Slim boasts a slimmer profile and a wider range of metrics, including blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) and heart rate variability. It offers a more detailed daily readiness score and doesn't require a subscription for core features. The review notes its potential for more comprehensive health tracking, but acknowledges it's a newer product and may not have the same level of refinement as the Oura.

Ultrahuman Ring Air: This ring focuses on performance and recovery, geared towards athletes and fitness enthusiasts. It emphasizes HRV and sleep data to optimize training and prevent overtraining. The review highlights its focus on actionable insights and its integration with the Ultrahuman app. Like Oura, it relies on a subscription model for full access to features.
Evie Ring: Specifically designed for women's health, the Evie Ring focuses on cycle tracking, temperature sensing for ovulation prediction, and overall wellness. The review emphasizes its user-friendly app and its focus on providing personalized insights for women. It's positioned as a more affordable option compared to Oura and Circular.

Key Features & Specifications Compared:

Feature	Oura Ring Gen3	Circular Ring Slim	Ultrahuman Ring Air	Evie Ring
Sleep Tracking	Excellent	Very Good	Good	Good
HRV Tracking	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Good
Activity Tracking	Good	Good	Good	Basic
Temperature Sensing	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
SpO2 Tracking	No	Yes	No	No
Subscription	Yes	No	Yes	No
Battery Life	~7 days	~6 days	~6 days	~5 days
Design	Titanium	Titanium	Titanium	Titanium
Women's Health Focus	Limited	Limited	Limited	High

Pros & Cons (General):

Pros:

Subtle and comfortable form factor.
Continuous health monitoring.
Longer battery life compared to smartwatches.
Potential for early illness detection.
Actionable insights for improving sleep and recovery.

Cons:

Lack of a screen for immediate data access.
Reliance on smartphone apps.
Subscription costs for full feature access (for some models).
Accuracy can vary depending on the ring and individual.
Still a relatively new technology with ongoing development.

Conclusion:

The Verge’s review positions smart rings as a promising alternative to traditional fitness trackers and smartwatches, particularly for those prioritizing sleep tracking, recovery, and continuous health monitoring. The best ring for an individual depends on their specific needs and priorities. Oura remains the established leader, but Circular and Ultrahuman are strong contenders offering compelling features and subscription-free options. Evie Ring caters specifically to women's health needs. Potential buyers should carefully consider the features, subscription costs, and overall ecosystem of each ring before making a purchase.