Samsung Galaxy Ring hands-on review: Fitness tracking without subscription fees

When you want 24/7 insight on your health and wellness, but don't want to wear a bulky smartwatch or fitness tracker daily, a smart ring makes a lot of sense — especially one that designed to work seamlessly with your existing device ecosystem. That's precisely the reason why the Samsung Galaxy Ring's launch is one of the company's most exciting in years.

Available for $399, the Galaxy Ring takes much of what Samsung achieved with the Galaxy Watch and shrinks it into a piece of sensor-packed jewelry. But what can these tiny sensors do, you ask? Monitor your activity, analyze your sleep, and feed a collection of AI-powered insights, to name a few of the Galaxy Ring's core features.

Samsung Galaxy Ring Hands On! No Subscription Fees Here... - YouTube

Watch On

If you follow along with news from the Galaxy Ring official debut, you're likely to see many comparisons to the Oura Ring (Oura is the brand that made smart rings mainstream, after all.) But Samsung found some creative ways to give its wearable an edge, which you can read about in my hands-on Galaxy Ring review below.

Samsung Galaxy Ring Specs

Samsung Galaxy Ring price and availability

The Samsung Galaxy Ring is available for pre-order starting July 10, following Samsung Unpacked, with official availability on June 24. The Galaxy Ring starts at $399.99, which is $100 more than the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7's starting price. And unlike the Oura Ring, which varies in cost from $299 to $549 based on shape and material, the Galaxy Ring is one set price. 

When you purchase the Galaxy Ring, you'll be sent a sizing kit to help you determine the proper size between 5 and 13. I normally wear a size 8 or 9 ring, though when I tried on the "dummy" rings, I fitted between a size 9 and size 10. In other words, don't skip the fitting process. In order for a smart ring to be effective, it needs to fit comfortably but also maintain skin contact to collect data.

I said this when I reviewed the Oura Ring and so I'll say it for the Galaxy Ring, too: I wish there was a solution to making the fitting process less tedious and wasteful, without needing to ship a whole separate box of fake rings before shipping out the customer's actual ring.

Luckily, once you pay the price, there are no additional fees to use the Galaxy Ring or any of the Samsung Health features. That's a major contrast to Oura Ring, which requires a $5.99/month membership fee in order to access all features. 

Samsung Galaxy Ring Design

Smart rings are having a moment, so sharp eyes might be able to tell the difference between one and a regular ring based on thickness. That said, at just 2.6 millimeters, the Galaxy Ring still looks very discreet. Available in Titanium Black, Titanium Silver, and Titanium Gold finishes, shoppers have the choice to pick the option that matches their vibe. After trying all the colors on, I'd personally choose gold. The silver has a attractive brushed finish, though.

The Galaxy Ring has a bit of a concave exterior. It's subtle, but still gives it a distinct look from the Oura Ring. Alternatively, the inside looks rather identical to any smart ring you'll see. A trio of sensors create a line of ridges that run on a third of the skin-facing surface.

Packed into the ring is a Bluetooth 5.4 module that pairs to your phone. Bluetooth lets you see the last location your ring was connected to your phone with Find My Ring, in the instance your ring is misplaced.

Samsung Galaxy Ring Health Tracking

Unlike a smartwatch, where you can review your health data directly on your wrist, the Galaxy Ring relies heavily on access to Samsung Health on your smartphone. Samsung's health service, which comes at no additional cost, lets you review data and insights from your Galaxy Ring at any time.

The Galaxy Ring monitors heart rate, predicts your cycle via the skin temperature sensor, and automatically detects exercise when you're moving. It'll even push an inactivity alert to your phone if you've been stationary for while. You can set up notifications for when your heart rate is higher or lower than your normal threshold, too.

When it's time to call it a night, the Galaxy Ring tracks sleep with Samsung's enhanced sleep AI algorithm. Building on Samsung's existing priorities in sleep tracking, the new algorithm uses more sleep score indicators like sleep latency, nighttime movement, and time in bed to determine your quality of rest.

Sleep also factors into the new AI-backed Energy Score feature. Energy Score is kind of like Oura's Readiness score, rating your body's overall state based on exercise, recovery and more. Wellness Tips, another new AI feature, will analyze your Energy Score and other health indicators to serve up personalized advice on everything from activity to nutrition.

Samsung Galaxy Ring Double Pinch Gestures

Apple brought us Double Tap for Apple Watch, and Samsung brings use Double Pinch for Galaxy Ring. That's right, the Galaxy Ring supports gestures thanks in large part to the built-in accelerometer. These gestures are pretty genius in my opinion, giving the Galaxy Ring unique functionality you won't get on the Oura Ring.

If you have a Samsung smartphone, such as the new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 or Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, your smart ring will double as a remote camera button. Just pinch your finger (the one with the ring on it, obviously) and thumb twice to control the shutter. I'm as big of a fan of the Camera Controller app for Galaxy Watch as they come, but this gesture for Galaxy Ring might be even more convenient. 

Double Pinch can also be used to snooze alarms, which makes sense considering you're supposed to wear the Galaxy Ring to sleep. 

Samsung Galaxy Ring Battery Life and Charging

The Samsung Galaxy Ring's battery capacity spans from 18 to 23.5 mAh depending on the ring size. It makes sense that bigger rings can fit a bigger battery, right? That reflects on battery life, with sizes 12 and 13 lasting up to 7 days on a full charge. Although Samsung isn't providing an estimate for all sizes, I'm guessing smaller sizes will average 4 to 5 days for battery life, which is on a par with Oura Ring.

Now, perhaps my favorite thing about the Galaxy Ring is the multifunctional charging case. Not only does the case juice up the ring either via USB-C or wireless charging, it also has a 361 mAh battery that holds a charge when it's not connected to a power source. The case shuts as well, protecting the Galaxy Ring should you travel with it. It's practical,

Samsung Galaxy Ring Outlook

I think there's a lot going for the Galaxy Ring. Despite being priced a bit higher than I expected, the fact that all of Samsung Health remains free of charge is a big selling point next to the competition. Paired with a great case and gestures, and Oura Ring definitely has a reason to be nervous.  

That said, Oura Ring has the advantage of being ecosystem agnostic, so it works for iPhone and Android. For the Galaxy Ring, there's no getting around needing a Samsung phone to use all the features. 

Regardless, I'll need to see how the new Galaxy AI health metrics work on a daily basis. From sleep to exercise, the data must be accurate and insightful in order for the Galaxy Ring to fulfill its primary purpose. Expect a full review from me soon.