One Ring to rule them all

SAMSUNG: LOOKS LIKE JEWELLERY BUT BEHAVES LIKE A TRAINER

- Arthur Goldstuck

The first few hours with the Galaxy Ring are unremarkable. And that's the point. It is one of the few devices I've tested that's designed to do its job without demanding any attention. For the first day or two, I kept checking my phone to see if it was actually doing anything. It was. Just not for me. Not yet.

Samsung's finger-worn foray into wearables takes its time to get going. It spends the first three nights calibrating itself before unlocking the kind of sleep insights that are usually plastered across your phone screen within hours of syncing a smartwatch.

At first, it feels like it's holding back. But once it decides you're worth analysing, the Ring goes full diagnostics mode: heart rate, skin temperature trends, recovery scores, and step tracking, delivered with clinical precision. Not to mention going all judgy on you.

The Galaxy Ring is compatible with any Android device running version 11 or higher. You don't need to own a Galaxy handset, but you do need to install both the Samsung Health and Galaxy Wearable apps to make sense of the data. Using it in tandem with a Galaxy S24, it was detected instantly by the phone, and synced seamlessly.

The hardware is a lesson in restraint. There are no buttons, no notifications, and it doesn't flash or buzz. The review unit came in a matte titanium finish, weighed in at just under three grams. There was no discomfort or discolouration and no sign that it was recording biometric data from beneath the skin.