Review: Why Samsung wants to get into your bed with Galaxy Ring

Alarm blaring? Just double tap your fingers and the problem disappears with this new smart ring which tracks your sleep and tells you how much energy you have.

Samsung's new Galaxy Smart Ring

Samsung wants to get into bed with you.

The Korean tech giant is attempting to outdo its rivals in the race to gather bedtime and sleep data in the form of a $699 ring.

It’s a ring which can track your heart rate, measure your steps and each morning — providing you’ve worn it to bed — give you a little score the company says reflects “your body’s battery level”.

When the ring launched last month, the company’s local head of wearables Kylie Mason said Samsung had found Australians were some of the most health-conscious around.

“We believe that Australians will embrace Galaxy Ring as a new option for a simplified and more consistent wellness tracking,” she said.

Samsung's new Galaxy Smart Ring

That tracking is being done in the form of a 7mm wide, 2.6mm thick ring which weighs between 2.3g to 3g (depending on the size) and lasts for up to seven days on a single charge thanks to a 18mAh to 23.5mAh battery (also size dependent).

Samsung bills the ring as “round-the-clock wellness monitoring” in a “durable design for extended wear”.

But what it really means is the company wants it to be comfortable enough that you’ll forget you’re wearing it and go to sleep with it on.

You see, big tech has been trying to get into bed with consumers for years. It’s a battle which has been fought on several fronts, with advancements in smart watches which monitor heart rate and skin temperature as well as smart phones that can detect a person’s snoring and sleep-talking.

But, most attempts were incredibly uncomfortable and failed to convince the majority of consumers to play ball.

Samsung thinks, or rather hopes, the Galaxy Ring might just be the ticket. And in the company’s defence, it is far more appealing to wear to bed than a watch or phone or those smart masks which play music and cover your eyes.

In exchange, consumers get a little score each morning, which leverages artificial intelligence, to make an assessment of the previous night’s sleep to determine how much energy they have.

On test, it was pretty accurate some days. On the nights I went to bed late or woke up a couple of times, my score was lower than usual.

But, it’d be naive to let a little number in Samsung’s health app each morning depict whether I get out of bed and make it to the gym before work.

Samsung's new Galaxy Smart Ring.

They’re also getting a wireless connection to the snooze button on their alarm, with consumers able to dismiss an alarm by simply double tapping their thumb and ring-wearing finger. The same gesture also takes a photo when the app is open on their phone.

Samsung isn’t the first to embed built-in gestures and are following in the footsteps of one of their biggest rivals, Apple, which released a similar function on its smart watch that allows users to accept a call.

The Australian has worn one of the rings for the best part of the last two months — excluding a 16-day window when we put it down, forgot about it and then couldn’t find it.

And on that front, it’s a kudos to Samsung as to how we did find it in the end.

While Samsung says it comes out of the box with seven days of battery use, we found after 16 days of zero use, having put the all-black ring down on a messy desk and not picking it up again until today, it still had charge — 13 per cent in fact.

One of the cooler features comes down to how we found it, using Samsung’s Find technology built into the ring.

I simply opened the health app on my S24 Ultra, selected my ring and clicked ‘blink light’ which made it flash red and green, in an odd but helpful Christmas-like sort of fashion.

Samsung's Galaxy Ring might appeal to those who want to keep a really close eye on their health.

Admittedly, I’ve lost the ring several times for days at a time which I’ll blame on the fact I’m yet to marry and rings haven’t been an everyday accessory in my life up until now (they’re also strange to wear while washing your hands and brushing your teeth).

Another thing we really liked was the charging case, a glass contraption with a USB-C port on the back and wireless charging on the bottom, allowing it to replace AirPods or buds on one of those really convenient 3-in-1 charging stands which can turn your iPhone into an alarm clock.

The verdict? Look, at $699, it’s not the most accessible piece of tech out there.

But, if you’re a real health nut, are fascinated by sleep tracking or simply love new devices like we do, then you’re probably going to love it.