Oura Ring 4 First shot: more titanium, better accuracy and longer battery life

Oura just announced the Ring 4, the latest version of its popular health and sleep tracker. The new model has an updated sensor system that allows it to tailor measurements to specific fingers, a titanium design and slightly longer battery life, accompanied by a redesigned version of the Oura app.

The Oura Ring 4 starts at $349 and ships on October 15, with orders opening on October 3. That makes it about $50 more expensive than the Heritage Oura Ring Gen 3, which has one flatter edge compared to the fully round design of the Ring 4 and $349 Horizon Ring Gen 3.

Oura made headlines in the early days of the pandemic use by the NBA to check the health of players, and it has also been spotted on the fingers of celebrities like Jennifer Aniston And Gwyneth Paltrow. But there are a growing number of wearable makers looking to challenge Oura, the biggest of which is Samsung, which launched its first health-tracking Galaxy Ring earlier this year. Smart rings aside, companies like Samsung and Google’s Fitbit are taking a page from Oura with scores for metrics like readiness and sleep, adding to Oura’s competition.

With the Ring 4, Oura is betting that improving core features like design, battery life, accuracy and comfort can help it stand out among new and existing rivals.

“So we asked ourselves these questions,” Jason Russell, the company’s vice president of consumer software products, said of the Ring 4. “How can we give you a more complete picture of your health? How can we make this more comfortable? How can we we make this for more people?’ ”

The Oura Ring 4 tracks the same health, sleep, and wellness metrics as the Ring Gen 3, with most health tracking features requiring a $6 monthly subscription. But Russell told CNET that the new, more accurate detection platform could “unlock future innovation,” hinting that new features could be coming eventually.

Read more: Why Oura CEO isn’t worried about Samsung’s Galaxy Ring

The new titanium design and sizes of the Oura Ring

While many of the Oura Ring 4’s major upgrades happen behind the scenes via algorithms and LEDs, the health tracker is also getting an aesthetic change. The Oura Ring 4 is available in other sizes, including sizes 4 and 5 on the smaller side and sizes 14 and 15 on the larger side. For comparison, the Gen 3 is available in sizes 6 to 13, while the Galaxy Ring ranges in size from 5 to 13.

The Oura Ring 4 comes in brushed silver, black, gold, rose gold, silver and stealth, similar to the Horizon version of the Oura Ring Gen 3. But the black edition has a new glossy appearance, which has a striking look to match beautiful next to my jewelry when I wear it.

While the Gen 3 has a titanium exterior, Oura boasts the Ring 4 as the first ring to use titanium on both the outside and inside. It’s also lighter than the Gen 3 at 3.3 to 5.2 grams, compared to the previous generation bezel, which ranges from 4 to 6 grams depending on size.

Based on my experience wearing the Ring 4, it definitely feels lighter compared to the Gen 3, although the band is slightly wider than the Galaxy Ring. However, it is the changes on the inside of the ring that are most noticeable. Oura has eliminated the domes on the inside of the bezel, giving it a much sleeker and seamless shape compared to the Gen 3.

Oura Ring 4 should be more accurate with longer battery life

The Oura Ring 4’s headliner attribute isn’t so much a new feature, but rather a refinement of the ring’s existing health tracking capabilities. Oura claims that the fourth-generation ring has major improvements in accuracy thanks to its new ‘smart sensing’ system, which uses an algorithm to adjust measurements based on an individual’s finger.

“Not all fingers are the same,” Russell said. “We have different skin tones. Our arteries and veins are in different positions, and that can result in variation in signal quality.”

Additionally, the ring has more than twice as many signal paths compared to the Gen 3, meaning it has more data to work with. The smart detection algorithm chooses the best signal path depending on which one gets the strongest value, which can vary depending on the positioning of the ring and other factors.

According to Russell, it’s the combination of this new algorithm, the Ring 4’s additional LEDs and photodetectors, and the titanium design that should lead to more accurate results. The Ring 4 has two triple LEDs, each equipped with red, green and infrared light, for example, while the Gen 3 only has one red, green and infrared LED system. The titanium interior is also better at blocking stray light that could disrupt signal quality, Russell says. These changes should also ensure that there are fewer gaps in your data in the Oura app, although it’s impossible to know whether Oura will deliver on these promises without extensive testing of the ring.

But Oura conducted a third-party study involving participants who wore the Oura Ring Gen 3 and Ring 4 at night in a sleep clinic and found that there was a 120% improvement in signal quality for blood oxygen detection, and 15% more accuracy when determine a user’s breathing. disturbance index, 7% fewer interruptions in the heartbeat during the day and 31% fewer interruptions in the heartbeat at night.

That breathing index metric is especially interesting given the recent emphasis on sleep apnea detection in wearables. Apple brought the ability to detect potential signs of sleep apnea to the Apple Watch Series 9, Ultra 2 and Series 10 with WatchOS 11, while Samsung introduced similar functionality on the Galaxy Watch 7 earlier this year.

No Oura Ring model, including the Ring 4, can detect potential sleep apnea signals, nor does Oura claim it can. But Russell did say that data on breathing disorders collected through the Oura ring could be useful to show your doctor if you suspect there is a problem.

“This will make it an even more powerful tool because we can simply detect more respiratory disorders than we would have with Gen 3,” Russell said.

Battery life also gets a boost, with Oura claiming up to eight days instead of the Gen 3’s maximum seven-day life. That should make it a little easier to track sleep regularly without turning on the ring , and it exceeds Samsung’s battery life claims for the Galaxy Ring by one day for the larger sizes and two days for the smaller sizes.

Read more: The Apple Watch Series 10 proves that the iPhone needs this feature

The new Oura app

Oura is reorganizing its app in a way that makes individual health metrics easier to find. The new version of the app is split into three tabs: Today, Vitals and My Health, compared to the existing version which has separate sections for preparedness, sleep, activity and resilience in addition to the home screen.

The Today tab, as the name implies, shows contextually relevant and important information, such as health metrics you prioritized during the Oura installation process, or current metrics based on the time of day. The Vitals app, meanwhile, includes individual health stats and scores, which you can tap into to see more details. And the My Health tab is for tracking long-term health trends that can slowly change over time, like cardiovascular age and heart health. The app redesign will be rolled out broadly to all Oura Ring users, not just those who buy the Ring 4.

It’s an important change, because the way information is presented – especially for a device like the Oura Ring, which doesn’t have a screen – goes a long way in determining how useful health and fitness trackers are. There’s also a delicate balance in improving the app and the way data is presented while keeping all the metrics and tools users have come to love, as Google’s Fitbit found out the hard way earlier this year when users criticized the app’s redesign.

I’ll have more to say about the Oura Ring 4 once I’ve had a chance to test it. But if it lives up to Oura’s claims, the more precise sensor system could set up the Oura ring for a future where we can learn even more about our health through our fingers.