The Ultrahuman Ring Air: The best smart ring for fitness junkies beats the Oura in 4 major ways

The Ultrahuman Ring Air is a subscription-free smart ring with AI health insights I have never seen before and data that rivals Oura’s.

It is really great to see masses of new entrants to the smart ring market in the last year. It shows there is growing demand in this segment of the market, and many people do want fitness devices that are more compact and comfortable to wear.

None of them though, as far as I’m aware, do real-time heart rate for exercising. But they are great for body temp differences, blood oxygen, sleeps stats, step counting, and overall health and fitness.

Oura has become too expensive for many with their monthly subscription, so I think these once-off purchase entrants will be really welcome, and more competition in the market is usually good for consumers.

See https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-best-smart-ring-for-fitness-junkies-beats-the-oura-in-4-major-ways/
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The Circular Ring Slim: This smart ring claims to be the lightest ever — and the first with haptic navigation

Weighing just 2 grams and measuring a mere 2.2 mm in thickness, the device packs big features into a tiny frame. To analyse the user’s health, the ring assesses seven biometrics and 142 derived markers. These markers are captured by a suite of sensors.

In the Circular Slim Ring, the PPG combines three different LED light wavelengths — green, red, and infrared — to capture numerous health vitals. These range from heart and respiratory rates to blood oxygen levels.

All readings are then transmitted to Kira+, Circular’s AI assistant, which turns the data into insights and advice.

It appears to have more sensing data available than the Oura Ring, as well as the haptic vibrations in addition too. Its normal price of $275 is also a bit cheaper than Oura Ring’s starting price of $300. Given also they are focussing specifically on accuracy, and they say there is only the one-time ring cost without a monthly subscription (like Oura has), it looks like there is a lot of going for this ring.

Coming out of France, in the EU, we’ll probably also find better respect for the privacy of our data. Right now it only syncs to Apple Healthkit, but they are working on syncing with Google Fit and Samsung Health.

See https://thenextweb.com/news/circular-ring-slim-thinnest-lightest-smart-ring
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India, the world’s largest smartwatch market, is getting new smart rings by BoAt and Noise, similar to Oura but likely cheaper

Tech giants such as Apple, Samsung and Huawei have long focused on the wrist. It’s not the most comfortable option for everyone, and it can be challenging to maintain precise tracking through the wrist. Ensuring that your smartwatch fits snugly to obtain accurate data is crucial. A smart ring can be the great solution, however, provided you have the right size.

A finger has access to arteries, which a smartwatch could not reach, Mohit Kumar, founder and CEO of Ultrahuman, which counts iSeed, Steadview, Nexus Venture Partners and Blume among its key investors, told TechCrunch.

“If you go to any medical grade pulse oximetry devices, you put it on your finger. You don’t put it on your wrist. That’s primarily because this is a much better source of data,” he said.

Khatri of Noise agreed with Kumar and said the data available through a finger is way higher than a device can get from a smartwatch. Launching smart rings from BoAt and Noise is expected to bring competition to this nascent space.

The products are not yet launched, but the R&D and work commenced over a year back. Another positive sign is that it is unlikely that the data will sit behind a subscription pay wall (as Oura’s latest ring has). I’ve been pretty impressed with my Oura ring, but it was very costly, and they did send me a replacement ring just after the warranty expired as the battery was suddenly giving out. So I may be keen to test one of these new Indian rings out when they are available. So I’ll be watching this space closely.

More competition in the market, especially from India, is going to be good for consumers.

See https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/13/smart-rings-india/
#Blog, #fitnesstracker, #India, #smartring, #technology