Is this new smart ring the Oura Ring killer we’ve been waiting for?

The Samsung Galaxy Ring was revealed in February as a direct competitor to the Oura Ring. Now, another smart ring competitor, Ringo, could also be making waves later this year — assuming it lives up to its promise.

Ringo is the focus of a Kickstarter campaign that has already raised over eight times its goal. The ring, which could begin to arrive to backers as early as June, promises several features that are somewhat hard to believe.

Like other wearable devices, Ringo offers ECG monitoring and sleep and fitness tracking. It also claims to track body fat and hydration levels. Those last two claims should be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism, especially for an item you can apparently grab for just $169 as an early backer. The Oura Ring, the most popular smart ring on the planet, costs nearly double that and doesn’t offer either of those features. Heck, no other smart ring offers those things!

But Ringo doesn’t stop there. It also claims to offer gesture controls on the ring to interact with your smartphone — including the ability to swipe your other finger on the ring to control your phone’s music playback, camera app, etc. You’ll supposedly get all of that with seven-day battery life. there’s also no subscription required.

Assuming Ringo becomes a reality, we will know soon enough whether it lives up to its claims. If it does, Samsung, Oura, and even smartwatch makers like Apple will likely take notice.

Until then, I’m reminded of other crowdsourced projects like the Coolest Cooler and CST-01 smartwatch that raised a lot of money, but never delivered. Sure, Ringo could happen, but it could also go nowhere and leave backers empty-handed.

In the meantime, a better bet is to patiently wait for Samsung’s product, which the Galaxy S24 maker promises will arrive sometime in 2024, with no backers needed. You could also buy an Oura Ring right now or one of its many competitors — including the RingConn Smart Ring and the Ultrahuman Ring Air. The Ringo smart ring sounds like an impressive new addition to the smart ring world if it actually comes to fruition, but that’s a mighty big “if.” We’ll be keeping an eye on this one.

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