Lord of The Ring: Impartial TOP-12 Best Smart Rings | 2022 Beneficial Buyer’s Guide

What’s going on in the smart ring market at the end of 2021? A couple of years ago, high-tech start-ups Oura and MOTIV blew up the market and everyone just went crazy. All immediately wanted to wear those small and compact rings on their fingers. But no miracle followed, smart rings are still a pricey gimmick rather than a widely available product for an adequate price.

The most expensive ring, the Oura, costs more than $300, which is too much even for a very smart ring. The MOTIV brand used to sell a little bit less pricey rings for $199. But they are not available any more after the company sold out to Biometric Security Company.

An innovative and affordable Amazon Echo Loop for a little bit over $100, unfortunately, is no longer available for new requests and it is not clear when it will appear on the market again. With these high prices in mind, cheap smart rings for about $20-$30 do not seem trustworthy.

So what to do? In my view, if you need reliable health monitoring, the most sensible solution would be to buy a smartwatch that tracks major health indicators: heart rate, sleep, respiration, oxygen, stress level, etc. Many of these devices feature NFC, ensuring contactless payments.

For example, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 offers advanced health monitoring and automatically tracks 7 popular sports activities.

It monitors sleep and provides recommendations on how to improve it. This Bluetooth-enabled device allows you to call, text, get notifications, and stream music.

Designed specifically for men, the TicWatch Pro 3 GPS Smart Watch boasts a sturdy design with a dual-layer display and an IP68 waterproof rating. Made with a long-lasting battery, the smartwatch runs for up to 3 days in a Smart mode on a single charge. It features a built-in GPS, a barometer, and other functions such as sleep tracking, noise detection, heart rate, and stress monitoring.

The latest model, Apple Watch Series 6, is loaded with beneficial features. It tracks your daily activities, covering a variety of workout types including yoga, swimming, and dancing. The advanced sensor will measure your blood oxygen level, while the Sleep app will help you achieve your sleep goals. With the use of the ECG app, the smartwatch will take your electrocardiogram.

So from my point of view, it is more advisable now to buy a smartwatch, waiting until prices for smart rings fall to normal levels.

Smart Rings: Reviews & Buyer’s Guide

What is the best smart ring? It is important that the device has enough features to monitor your activities. The gadget should be compatible with smartphones and have Bluetooth capabilities. The design matters a lot as it is a decorative item, after all. The material it is made of is of separate notice because you will wear it close to your skin. We believe that Motiv Smart Ring fits these criteria best.

Why have we chosen this model? It is a brand-name product with a 1-year warranty. The gadget will track your sleep and activities, calories burned and steps you have walked. A particular advantage is its waterproof design allowing to use the ring in a pool or in the rain. Made of durable but lightweight titanium, the device is compatible with iOS 9.0 and Android 6.0. Its battery lasts for 3 days and is charged within an hour and a half. A charging dock comes with a product.

This guide will tell you about the TOP-3 best smart rings, their key features and capabilities. What makes these devices different from a regular ring? Is there a big choice and what things you should look for when shopping? Learn about their capability with smartphones and what downsides are common for these devices. Take a look at a comparison chart to pick the best option and read an FAQ section to get answers to the most frequently asked questions.

Things around us are getting smarter in front of our eyes. At first, there were smartphones followed by smart TVs and watches, now it is the turn of smart plugs, toilet seats and, God help us, the rings. If entrepreneurial producers can install a processor or NFC chip somewhere else, rest assured they will do it.

Sometimes, innovative entrepreneurs manage to produce something really comfortable but sometimes they just get terrible trash that belongs in an encyclopedia of technological oddities, rather than store shelves. Time will tell to which of these two categories smart rings should be attributed.

For now, let's try to figure out what kind of bird they are, what they are for anyway, and what are the TOP 3 smart rings that can be considered the best options for economical geeks, sportsmen and trendy types.

Table of Content:

Smart Rings: Buyer’s Guide

What is a smart ring?

A smart ring is a decorative ornament in the form of a ring that comes with some extra electronic features. Since this is still a new type of devices, there is no standard set of features for them.

While some smart rings respond to gestures, which allows them to control electronics, others display have a microscopic screen displaying notifications from a smartphone about missed calls, received SMS and new tweets. Others perform the functions of fitness bracelets, by tracking heart rate, steps and calories burned.

Some are designed to store passwords and unlock your smartphone while others allow you to make distance payments and open smart locks on the doors without a special key. There is even a type of smart ring intended to track the pulse of your soul mate.

Anyway, there is plenty to choose from. You have models for all tastes but, unfortunately, neither of them is universal. Do you want a full set of exceptional abilities? Then, you will have to cover yourself with the rings, like Mandarin from Marvel comics.

Smart Ring Issues

Smart rings are quite a paradoxical type of gadgets. They come in a pretty convenient format, probably the best one among all wearable electronic devices, while not a single developer actually knows what to do with them.

Because of the lack of a common motion vector, producers pull apart the brilliant idea of ​​smart rings, step on the same rakes and invent bicycles without the steering wheel, pedals and wheels over and over again. Until anyone from Apple, Samsung, or at least Xiaomi spring into action, smart rings will be just toys for geeks full of immaturity defects:

— They are not so tiny, particularly when referring to models with a display and a battery. That is why it may not be comfortable to wear them on the finger throughout the day;

— They do not have much appeal. Actually, there are nice models, but a typical smart ring looks like a plastic toy from Kinder Surprise Egg, something that only a schoolboy can wear in public without shame;

— They malfunction: again, this is not about all of them but many do. This happens because such products are usually produced by small companies with the money raised by crowdfunding. These manufacturers generally have neither the strength nor the funds to debug their production and iron out the software’s kinks.

What Smartphones and OSs support Smart Rings

As a rule, these devices are designed to work with any smartphone on any OS while some models can even do without a companion smartphone. We are dealing with subtleties here, though.

The best match for a smart ring is a smartphone with NFC and Bluetooth operating on Android. The brand does not matter: the products from Samsung, Motorola, HTC, LG and other manufacturers are almost completely compatible in terms of software and do not differ from each other in functionality.

So any smartphone will buddy up with such a ring. An Android smart ring includes the largest possible number of app permissions, therefore, the gadget will have the broadest capabilities in this tandem.

If you own an iPhone or, for all I know, a device operating on Windows, you can still have a smart ring working, but the set of available options will most likely be significantly limited. This is particularly the case with NFC, so you will most probably be unable to connect the ring to Apple Pay or make it unlock the old Lumia.

How to Choose the Right Size Smart Ring

Even being smart, these gadgets are still rings, so the same sizes apply to them as well. The left column contains the size of a ring while the right one shows the finger's perimeter:

• 7 – 54 mm;
• 8 – 57,1 mm;
• 9 – 60 mm;
• 10 – 62,8 mm;
• 11 – 66 mm;
• 12 – 70 mm.

Note that various sources offer different size tables, so you should better measure a ring size before buying it.

TOP-3 Best Smart Rings

Let me get this straight. One of the three rings that I am going to review below is not a brand-name product at all. So that it did not even get the name from its manufacturer. Another option — and this is about Jakcom R3 — is in its essence the same thing but it has at least a manufacturer with its own name.

And the last model I’d like to cover is a brand-name device designed by an experienced team of engineers and intended for those who want something special. This ring will cost you some $200... Well, enjoy it!

Best Ring for Sports Activities — Jakcom Smart Ring 

An inexpensive model at a price of about $20, it is a product from a more or less known manufacturer. The item does not require charging as it includes neither display nor Bluetooth or any other energy guzzler.

As an NFC smart ring, it allows you to unlock a phone, quickly launch apps, open smart locks and pay for purchases. The producer highlights health benefits of germanium, a volcanic magnet and a mystic “energy stone” installed on the ring’s inner surface.

The gadget looks nice but can hardly be worn with an expensive suit. Nor will it suit woman’s hand, where the ring will look quite brutal. The item is rather large-size and is obviously designed for men.

The device is said to be water, dust and shockproof, however, some users complain about the material quality. In particular, some people say that the ring’s “tungsten” coating has been erased within days, so the quality of this product is like lottery odds. Moreover, the performance of an app, without which the device is of no interest, is far from ideal. In particular, your smartphone unlocked in your pocket every time it contacts the ring is hardly the most convenient thing you can imagine.

So Jakcom smart ring can become a good option for sports: the device is designed as an extremely reliable one for those who adopt a healthy lifestyle. It will also be good enough as an example of a very idea of ​​smart rings or just as a geek toy.

Jakcom Smart Ring: Check the current price

Best Budget NFC Smart Ring

This stylish NFC smart ring is available in 9 sizes ranging from 7 to 14 inches. It looks like as if a small diamond was installed. This item would be a great gift for a girl as it is modern, attractive and useful. It has a number of beneficial features including unlocking the screen, quick start application, URL information and others.

Why buy this device? It is good for storing and exchanging personal information and mobile content, with 144 bytes of the memory size. Just with a ring move, you can unlock the screen like a magician.

NFC Smart Ring: Check the current price

Best Premium Smart Ring — Motiv Ring

Manufactured by the U.S. company headquartered in San Francisco, it is a gadget on a whole other level of quality. And this is completely different money — about $200, which is still a rarity for this kind of product.

The Motiv Smart Ring model can be described as the logical development of a concept of ​​fitness bracelets, with all the basic features of these devices being available but in a more portable and lightweight unit.

This miracle of miniaturization is designed to monitor your sleep and activity, counts steps and distances traveled, as well as calories burned and a heart rate. The item is made of ultrahard titanium alloy and is water-resistant, therefore, it will work great for sports activities.

The other area of application of this device is security. For instance, with the ring on your finger, you can log into your online accounts by simply waving the hand in front of the PC. The Motiv Smart Ring can even recognize the walk of the owner, preventing others from using his or her gadgets.

Other features are being tested yet, such as its work with fingerprint scanners and face recognition systems. However, this is the groundwork.

Unlike other devices in this selection, this model requires charging because it not only collects data but also transfers it in the background to your smartphone via Bluetooth. The charge lasts for 3 to 5 days while the ring can be charged through USB within an hour and a half. This model looks nice and even gracefully, it can do a lot but for a whole lot of money.

Motiv Smart Ring: Check the current price

12 Best-Selling Smart Rings Comparative Table

FAQ 

Do you need to charge a smart ring?
Much depends on the particular model. Most unsophisticated rings do not need to be charged but if the device includes a display and Bluetooth, it requires charging.

Is a smart ring bad for human health?
Smart rings are no more harmful than regular ones. Besides, there are models with activity sensors and other features intended to contribute to a healthy lifestyle.

Where to buy a smart ring?
Today, buying a smart ring is not an easy task. The greatest range of choice and lowest prices are offered at AliExpress, eBay, and Amazon. Still, you may find them in e-stores, you just have to look for them.