I tried the Samsung Galaxy Ring — it holds its own against the Oura Ring
WITH the launch of the Galaxy Ring back in July, Samsung has become the first tech titan to enter the rapidly growing smart ring space.
At Sun Shopping, we’re a big fan of smart rings; they’re not as bulky or in-your-face as a smartwatch, and they’re better for sleep tracking, too (it’s easier to sleep in a ring than a watch).
Galaxy Ring, £399 from Samsung
I’ve had an Oura Ring, which is probably the Galaxy Ring's closest competitor, for a couple of months now, and I was extremely interested to see how Samsung’s smart ring compared.
I’d already read Assistant Tech Editor Jamie Harris’ Samsung Galaxy Ring review, too. He had an almost-exclusively good experience testing it, so expectations were high.
Pros
- Less bulky and harder to scratch than the Oura ring
- Quick-charging wireless charging case
- Easy-to-use sleep coach feature
- No monthly subscription cost (unlike Oura)
- Seamless compatibility with Samsung devices
- Weeklong battery life
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Cons
- Only fully compatible with Samsung phones
Rating: 4.5/5
Design
Design-wise, the Samsung is pretty much what you’d expect; a sleek, lightweight ring designed to be worn on your index finger.
Samsung will send you a sizing kit containing plastic rings between size 5 and 13, which are designed to be worn for around 24 hours to ensure correct sizing. I have fairly normal-sized fingers, and went for a size 12.
Galaxy Ring, £399 from Samsung
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It’s actually noticeably slimmer than my Oura Ring, with a 2.6mm thickness as opposed to the Oura’s 2.9mm.
That might not sound like much of a difference, but you can really see it when it’s on; I think the effect is helped by the ring’s slightly concave design.
It’s even slimmer than the new Oura Ring 4, which has a thickness of 2.88mm.
After wearing it consistently for a couple of weeks, one thing I am extremely impressed by is how hardy the Samsung ring is. My Oura ring got pretty beaten up within just a week of wear, and after a couple of months, there are quite a few visible scratches on the surface.
And when we reviewed the Ultrahuman ring, another competitor to the Samsung model, our writer Natalie Chui also mentioned that the coating on her ring was easily scratched.
I haven’t tested the Samsung Ring for as long as the Oura so it’s hard to make an exact comparison, but I can tell you that there are no visible scratches on it after a couple of weeks of wear.
I even went against Samsung’s advice for a few days and wore it on my dominant hand, and there are still little-to-no signs of wear.
For the most part, I’ve followed Samsung’s , which include things like not wearing metal rings on nearby fingers or handling heavy objects, but I was still expecting a couple of nicks here and there. I’m pleased to say I was wrong on that.
The minor design issue with the Samsung is that there are only three colours available — silver, black and gold — as opposed to the five offered by Oura.
I know a few people will find it disappointing that there’s no rose gold version, but I think the available colours will fulfil the needs of most people; after all, black, silver and gold are classic for a reason.
Sleep tracking
Sleep tracking is the metric I was most interested in when testing the Samsung Ring. I’ve never been a great sleeper — while I nod off easily enough, I struggle to stay asleep throughout the night.
Thankfully, Samsung has taken sleep tracking really seriously with the Galaxy Ring, and while its overall approach is certainly different to Oura’s, it’s no less effective.
Oura takes a grown-up, scientific approach to tracking your sleep, which while insightful, can also be a bit impenetrable.
Samsung’s is similar in some ways — it gives you a daily sleep score and individual percentage scores for metrics like restfulness, as well as graphs for sleep stages — but it's a bit less intense.
It chooses not to overload you with data, instead focusing more on recovery and sleep coaching. After collecting a week’s worth of data it assigned me a “sleep animal”, which is designed to give you a more tangible illustration of your sleep habits.
Galaxy Ring, £399 from Samsung
Mine was a penguin, thanks to the bird’s habit of staying alert during the night to keep an eye on its eggs (the analogy being that while I usually get enough kip and have a fairly regular sleep schedule, I wake up too often during the night).
I found this to be very handy, and Samsung goes one step further and assigns you a checklist to fill out based on your sleep type; mine included targets like meditating in the evening, avoiding alcohol before bed and getting out of bed quickly in the morning.
I did occasionally see big differences between my sleep scores on the Oura app and the Samsung Health app, although my average score was similar (around 69/70).
For example, a couple of nights before I returned the ring to Samsung I was given a sleep score of 94; the same night, my Oura Ring gave me a score of 72.
Other features
While I didn’t focus as intensely on the Samsung Ring’s fitness features as I did on its sleep-tracking features, it’s impressive how well Samsung has integrated the ring’s features into the Samsung Health app.
Like Oura, Samsung gives you a daily energy score, tracks your steps and heart rate, and gently nags you to be more active if you’re being too lazy.
Through the Samsung Health app, you can also track exercise and log your food and water intake, should you wish (admittedly, this isn’t something I did).
However, it’s worth noting that like most smart ring manufacturers Samsung recommends you take off the ring for weight training, so if you’re looking for something you can use for that I’d recommend looking at our Whoop review.
For obvious reasons, I’ve not had the chance to test out the Ring’s cycle-tracking abilities, but this is another area where Samsung has pleasingly integrated features into its Health app; the company has teamed up with Natural Cycles to use skin temperature to predict things like fertility windows.
The amount of data you get from Natural Cycles using Samsung is reportedly a bit more limited than you get through Oura, but crucially you don’t need a paid subscription to Natural Cycles with the Galaxy Ring; with Oura you have to pay for a Natural Cycles membership, which is £9.99 per month.
There are some features that the Samsung lacks compared to the Oura, though; for example Oura has recently rolled out a cardiovascular age and capacity feature, which helps track and improve heart health.
Samsung doesn’t offer this yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar feature rolled out within a year or two. After all, Oura has a few years on Samsung when it comes to updates.
Battery and charging
Galaxy Ring, £399 from Samsung
Samsung scores excellently when it comes to these criteria — honestly, I can’t think of a single complaint.
Firstly, it has a longer battery life than my Oura Ring, which can go for six days on a full charge, as well as the Ultrahuman Ring, which lasts between four and six days.
The Samsung goes one step further with a seven-day charge, and in testing my ring did last for that long.
It’s worth noting that the newly-released Oura Ring 4 claims to have an 8-day battery life, but we’ve not managed to get our hands on (or in) the new model just yet.
One thing I loved about the Samsung Ring is that it comes with a wireless charging case, which isn't something offered by many of its competitors.
I have no issue with the Oura’s black, circular charging port, but it’s objectively not as good as being able to charge your ring on the go. It’s a great feature, especially if you’re a regular traveller.
I found it useful to have the ring case in my bag when I was out and about — if your ring is about to run out of charge, you can chuck it in the case for half an hour or so and almost immediately get back to using it.
Usability
This is where we come to the big negative: the Samsung Galaxy Ring is only compatible with Samsung phones.
This means that for many people — namely iOS users — the Galaxy Ring isn’t really an option. That’s a shame, because it really does hold its own in an increasingly packed Smart Ring market.
For Samsung users, though, it’s very convenient; it works fluidly with the Samsung Health app and connects seamlessly to Samsung phones.
Galaxy Ring, £399 from Samsung
How much is the Samsung Galaxy Ring?
The Samsung Galaxy Ring is £399, regardless of your desired colour.
That makes it more or less the most expensive fitness ring on the market; the Oura Ring starts at £349 (although the Gold and Rose Gold finishes take that up to £499), while the Ultrahuman ring is £329 regardless of colour.
If you wanted something even more affordable, you could go for the RingConn 2, which retails for $299 (£229). However, we’ve not tested out the RingConn yet, so I obviously can’t recommend it.
There is a big caveat here, though; Samsung doesn’t charge you a monthly subscription fee.
Oura, meanwhile, charges you £5.99 per month to use all of its ring’s features, meaning that you’re paying another £70 or so per year on top of the initial cost.
That means that even if you purchase one of the £349 finishes, you’ll have spent more after a year of use than if you purchased the Samsung ring.
Neither Ultrahuman or Ringconn charge for a subscription either, but if I were a Samsung user I’d be tempted to spend the extra money on the Galaxy Ring just because of how well it works with Samsung devices.
Samsung Galaxy Ring vs Oura Ring: the verdict
It’s actually very easy to come to a conclusion here.
If you use an Android and you’re in the market for a smart ring, I’d go for the Samsung. It’s a great smart ring that can help you sleep better and track your exercise, and in some respects — such as its design and battery life — it’s actually better than my Oura ring. It’s also a huge bonus to not have to pay a monthly subscription fee.
The only reason I haven’t been able to give the Samsung ring a full five stars is because of its lack of iOS compatibility, as well as the Samsung Health app, which I didn’t love as much as the Oura app (but that will vary from person to person, so I’ve not marked it down too much on that).
If you’re an iPhone user, I’d opt for the Oura ring. While the Samsung Ring is great, I wouldn’t trade my iPhone for an Android phone just so I could get one, when the Oura Ring is readily available.
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I slightly prefer Oura app to the Samsung Health app, too, and the new Oura Ring 4 addresses a couple of the Oura 3’s blind spots, such as its inferior battery life.
Galaxy Ring, £399 from Samsung