A few days ago, audio manufacturer Cleer also launched the Cleer smart ring when it released its new open-back headphones, Cleer ARC 3. It is reported that this smart ring can be paired with the Cleer ARC 3, through which various multimedia applications can be controlled, but its price has not yet been announced.
In addition, not long ago, Black Shark also announced a smart ring product that focuses on all-round health monitoring and is called "Black Shark Ring", but then the official withdrew the news that this new product will be launched. At the same time, it is reported that the Samsung Galaxy Ring will also be available soon, and the first batch of stocks may be as high as 400,000 pieces, which is expected to be available in three colors and nine sizes.
The entry of a large number of related manufacturers also shows that smart rings have become an emerging craze in the field of wearable devices. However, although it seems to have a bright future from this stage, there are still problems and challenges for smart rings on the product side.
Nowadays, the use of smart rings as an auxiliary interaction tool has been a direction that has attracted much attention. However, among many similar products, the interaction logic of Cleer smart ring is quite puzzling, after all, it is using "mobile phone accessories" to control another accessory, which is somewhat interactive for the sake of interaction, and in the actual use process, this method may not only not bring convenience, but will lead to a reduction in stability.
Of course, in the current scheme of using smart rings as interactive auxiliary tools, it is more connected to mobile phones, and users can use simple operations such as cutting songs and swiping videos by wearing smart rings. However, there are also certain limitations behind these solutions, such as the problem that some products have too high control delay, resulting in unsmooth use and other problems, and the control accuracy of some products also needs to be improved. More importantly, at this stage, the interactive function of smart rings is relatively simple, and there is still a lack of sufficient innovation and diversity.
Schematic diagram of patents related to Apple smart rings
Despite this, some manufacturers still see the huge potential of smart rings in terms of interaction, especially in the field of xR, and the size advantages of smart rings have been fully reflected. At present, Samsung, Apple and other manufacturers have reserved relevant patents, which may be used for the interaction of AR/VR/MR headsets in the future. In fact, there are also manufacturers that have taken the lead, such as Meizu, which has previously launched smart rings that can interact with its AR glasses.
Some of the smart rings used for interaction also have the problem of being relatively large
Relatively simple interactive functions, most users at this stage undoubtedly attach more importance to the health monitoring function of smart wearable devices. For example, the Cleer ARC 3 provides exercise data and health metrics such as steps, calories, and heart rate and blood oxygen, but it is not officially clear whether this monitoring data is provided by the headset or collected by the smart ring.
Previously, in response to the resurgence of popularity of smart rings, there was a view that the monitoring results of such products may not meet the expectations of users due to the limitations of receptor type, sensor accuracy, computing power, etc. In fact, this is not unreasonable, after all, the size of the smart ring determines that it must make trade-offs in terms of performance, sensors, etc.
But now, with the advancement of related technologies, especially the breakthrough in the miniaturization of high-precision sensors, the health monitoring function of smart rings has been significantly improved. At present, some products have obtained the Class II medical device certification from the Continental Food and Drug Administration, and some manufacturers are even developing the continuous blood pressure monitoring function of smart rings. This change means that the accuracy and reliability of such products in terms of health monitoring have reached a certain level.
However, behind this improvement, there is also a corresponding increase in product costs. At present, most of these smart rings with high-precision monitoring capabilities are positioned on the B-side, usually used in professional fields such as medical care and elderly care, and the retail price in overseas markets has reached 279 US dollars, about 2022 yuan, which is even higher than some full smart watches, so it remains to be seen how the market acceptance will be.
It is worth mentioning that some manufacturers are currently trying to introduce the sports monitoring function into smart rings. Previously, it was also limited by factors such as body size, sensor accuracy, and computing power, and there is still a lot of room for improvement in the performance of smart rings in this regard. At the beginning of this year, Amazfit launched a new HelioRing smart ring, which supports heart rate tracking, stress level monitoring, sleep monitoring, and blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) monitoring, and provides users with recommendations based on data such as sleep quality and physical exertion. But at present, this product is still in the state of "basic molding", in other words, there is still a gap between its related functions and relatively mature products such as smart bracelets.
In addition, it should be noted that smart rings are limited by size, and when the battery capacity is usually small, the screen has almost become a luxury, which will undoubtedly bring inconvenience to users to access monitoring data, analysis reports and other information. At the same time, various reminders (e.g., sedentary, exercise standards) may also be unintuitive, causing users to need to check their phones more often.
As a hot track in the current smart wearable device industry, although smart rings have shown certain potential in terms of interaction and health monitoring, they still face many challenges. And the root of all this is its advantage over smart bracelets, that is, the smaller body size, so whether it is sensors, or computing power, it may still need to be further matured by these components, and smart rings can usher in a real explosion.