The easiest way to track your health without having to think too much

Your favorite little black ring

For the past few months, I’ve been wearing a black galaxy ring on my left index finger. I wear it to wash my hands and dishes. I washed my face and my daughter’s face when it was covered in paint. I took out the trash, put on gloves to help move the swing, and then rode on the swing with the Galaxy Ring. Generally speaking, I don’t take my rings off except for cleaning and showering twice a day. By then, it was a matter of course, just like when I took off the rest of my jewelry, which is to say, the Galaxy Ring felt like an accessory for me. I even found a beautiful labradorite ring to wear on my right index finger to match.

The Galaxy Ring comes in three titanium finishes: solid black (which I mentioned), gold, and silver. if you want a smart one Ring that blends in with regular jewelry, available in two metal finishes. It sometimes feels too stingy when I wear a plain black ring with my favorite large gemstone ring. Also, since I’ve been wearing it for two months, the bottom of it (where the tracking hardware is) is already scratched up. I think it’s the result of all the hard work I put into this ring. I expect some wear and tear, but not this quickly. At least it’s on the bottom so it’s not that obvious at first glance.

Samsung fitted me with a size 9 ring. Getting there was a complete ordealbut ended up being the right size. It didn’t feel as tight as it did when I originally tried the Galaxy Ring on in New York in July, and I wore it throughout the hot summer. Whenever I feel the ring pinching my finger, I put it back into the clear charging case so it can recharge while I rest.

The Galaxy Ring’s charging case is truly something special. Initially, I thought the box was cheap, but its small size is perfect for throwing in my bag on the way to the nail salon when I need to take the ring out and secure it. The box is clear with white LED accents, including around the charging base, that indicate how much battery power is left on the box and how much battery power is left on the ring. docked.

An aspect of health tracking

Yes, this is the easiest way to track your health every day without having to think too much. But if you’re doing more than that, like training for a marathon or trying to get better at mountain biking, the Galaxy Ring can’t replace a smartwatch.

For those who are more into sports, the Galaxy Ring can help promote health without the physical footprint of a smartwatch. During the day, it tracks the number of steps you take, the stairs you climb, and even elevation factors if you live in a hilly area. At night, while you sleep, it tracks blood oxygen levels and changing temperatures throughout the night. It lets you know if you snore and how often you get up to go to the bathroom. It also blames you for not getting enough sleep and being restful enough to face the day.

Admittedly, the Galaxy Ring didn’t do all this. The Samsung Health app receives data from the smart ring and then gives its best guess at your lifestyle. I can keep track of how I’m doing, and so far I’m getting more information from Samsung Health now than I did before I wore the Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 6. it. I realized I walked more than I thought during a sedentary day at the office. My sleep wasn’t as good as I thought it would be, and the “I’ve had enough sleep” hangover in the morning seemed to be directly related to whether or not I kept up the exercise.

The Galaxy Ring isn’t a perfect, ultimate tracker. For example, there are persistent discrepancies between Samsung Health’s assessment results and Strava’s final results. Often the watch would say I walked less than I actually did, and I think that’s because it relies on my phone’s location data. But Strava can access the same data, and it still seems to be able to collect more accurate distance readings from the ring. The point is that this is all very confusing, which is why if you need a lot of numbers, I would recommend going the traditional smartwatch route. The Galaxy Ring isn’t great at tracking niche sports and activities, either. If you walk, hike, or bike, these are fine. But I wore the Galaxy Ring while swimming, and it didn’t tell me my heart rate per lap or how far I swam. I usually get this information from my smart watch.

Another difference has to do with the Galaxy Ring tracking blood oxygen levels during sleep. If you’re tossing in your sleep, you might press your fingers and get an even more alarming reading. Samsung Health claims my blood oxygen levels hover around 85-89% most nights, which I was quickly reminded ofThis is the kind of read that will send you to the hospital. I wouldn’t rely on this data unless you explain to investigators that there is some flaw in the way the ring tracks blood oxygen at night. Smartwatches have more surface on the wrist to extract data from, and you don’t immediately reduce circulation while sleeping with one on.

The most annoying thing about wearing a smart ring on a smart watch is that you have to take your phone with you everywhere if you want to do more than just exist. I carry my phone with me anyway to stream music to my headphones while jogging, but in theory I wouldn’t need to do that if I had a smartwatch – it usually has onboard storage and can Play music on the go without taking up too much space. You’ll also rely heavily on your phone to keep track of your daily statistics. Every morning, instead of checking the display on my wrist, I pick up my phone and sync it to my ring to see how I’m sleeping. It’s not a routine I’m proud of, but I reach for that device to snooze the alarm anyway.

The key is Samsung Health

Since the Ring itself doesn’t have a display to interact with, everything you do, from programming the device to checking stats, involves dealing with Samsung Health. Now, this application has become more complex since its early days. I’ve been using the Galaxy Fit smartwatch to track my health data since I first adopted it in 2019. Samsung Health also easily integrates with Google Fit and Android’s Health Connect, so you can share data with third parties like Strava without worrying about duplicate data.

One thing I’m not yet convinced Samsung Health can do is coach me into better habits. I mean, it kind of works with the app’s Energy Score, which is reminiscent of FitBit’s Daily Readiness Score, which I typically use to mark my “healthy” direction. But the advice it gave me didn’t take into account other parts of why my problem was what it was, which was an unfair travesty. Instead of asking me how I was doing and if I was sick (the app didn’t even know I was sick, and it didn’t bother to ask), it accused me of compromising my sleep, immediately assuming I drank alcohol or had a snack before bed. . The way it was phrased was accusatory and I was surprised this conversation was part of the rotation.

During the review period, I received sleep-impaired notifications multiple times. When Samsung Health warned me for the second time, it again accused me of drinking and late-night eating. Again, I had other things going on mentally and physically that were actual factors that made it difficult for me to sleep. But there is no place to manually enter this data and consider it along with all the other data.

When everything goes smoothly, Samsung Health is happy to guide you. I had been walking and exercising daily for about three weeks and the messages were positive and encouraging to continue with that streak. I am also regularly reminded that this lifestyle can help stave off depression and anxiety. Indeed! But I wish I could put more information into it about my mental health and all my diagnoses and factor that in with my heart rate and blood pressure data and why I couldn’t sleep at night.

Samsung Health is expected to become even stronger in the future. At least, with the stats it’s giving now, it doesn’t cost anything. Competing devices like the Oura Ring, which has arguably pushed the category forward, require a subscription to keep track, whereas Samsung gives it to you directly. But who knows what will happen next? By then, we’ll hopefully have a smart ring that’s less worrisome when it comes to displaying blood oxygen levels. I swear I’m fine!

If you’re into a certain training session, or you’ve already started working out and want more stats, you’ll have to stick with the Samsung ecosystem. The Galaxy Ring at least works best with a Samsung smartwatch, and there are some gestures that only work with Samsung smartphones. We’re still waiting for a Galaxy Watch 7 review, but I already know wearing the Galaxy Ring and Pixel Watch at the same time can get confusing. You must choose a health kit that syncs with Google Fit first, and data will not be linked. At least if you’re wearing a Galaxy Watch, Samsung Health knows when to turn off tracking duties for more detailed workout data.

Great for passive health tracking

The Galaxy Ring is one of the most expensive smart rings on the market. It’s a bit more expensive than if you buy a cheaper brand like RingConn, but at least you can fully integrate your data with other services without too much hassle. If you are passive health tracker working method If you want to boost your health, you’ll easily justify the $400 price tag, especially if you’re already deeply involved in the ecosystem. The only regret is that the blood oxygen levels it reads are pretty alarming. I imagine Samsung will try to resolve this issue with algorithm changes or at least issuing a disclaimer.