The launch of Samsung’s Galaxy Ring has led to more people paying attention to this area of wearables technology, potentially leading to a new smart ring Kickstarter These are records in terms of funding – although there are other, better reasons to pay attention to this campaign.
The RingConn Gen 2, which has raised over $1.6 million since the campaign launched earlier this month, is also the fastest smart ring campaign to hit the $1 million mark, surpassing its previous campaign’s funding in just 36 hours (via Reddit) – boasts some impressive improvements over what came before it.
There are the usual minor design changes, with the new model sporting a sleeker shape, but you also get longer battery life – now 12 days compared to the previous maximum of seven – and sleep apnea tracking (RingConn claims its new device can detect the sleep-disrupting problem with 90% accuracy).
That’s on top of all the original’s features, which let you track sleep, activity, stress, and heart rate. And best of all, the Gen 2 Ring follows the original in affordability.
The full retail price is a little higher – $299 (£234 / AU$460) compared to $279 (around £219 / AU$418, but if you back the project you can buy the ring for $209 (£164 / AU$322) – but it’s a fair bit cheaper than its rivals. The Galaxy Ring, for example, will set you back $399 / £399 (around AU$750).
We normally don’t talk much about Kickstarter campaigns because they’re so unpredictable, but RingConn has a solid reputation in the smart ring world.
We tested the company’s original smart ring, and in our four-star RingConn Smart Ring review , we called it a “solid alternative to the Oura smart ring.” Sure, we found it to be a little lacking in polish, with some syncing issues and some subpar workout tracking, but it offers plenty of accurate data tracking and a stellar five- to seven-day battery life for just $279 (around £219 and AU$418, and it’s often on sale for less).
There are cheaper smart rings out there, but they don’t deliver nearly as much performance as this device. This makes it one of the best smart rings on the market in terms of price.
While we still need to test this second-generation model ourselves to know its performance, RingConn has a very solid starting point. We wouldn’t be surprised to see the RingConn Gen 2 smart ring in the running for the best budget smart ring of 2024, even competing with the Galaxy Ring.
We’ll have to wait and see how things turn out when RingConn Gen 2 launches in September.
