While everyone was busy drooling over Samsung’s first smart ring – it looks great, don’t get me wrong – challenging brand RingConn quietly rolled out its second-generation finger wearable, the apply-named RingConn Smart Ring Gen 2.
I liked the first RingConn Smart Ring; no wonder it’s featured among the best smart rings. It provided a no-frills approach to health tracking and did all the basics very well. It didn’t have any of the more advanced – nuanced, so to speak – features of its rivals, but thanks to its affordable price, it was an excellent choice for budget-conscious shoppers.
The Gen 2 ring follows the path set out by the predecessor but introduces quite significant upgrades in battery life, sleep tracking and physical specs. In fact, the RingConn Smart Ring Gen 2 is the first smart ring that looks compact enough to be mistaken for a tungsten or titanium ring, which is incredible.
Is the RingConn Smart Ring Gen 2 the best wearable option for your needs? Should you throw away your Apple Watch or other smartwatch and track your health and fitness with RingConn’s smart ring? Read my full review below to find out.
RingConn Smart Ring Gen 2 review
Price and availability
The RingConn Gen 2 is now available for pre-order on Kickstarter (links to RingConn’s website) for a recommended price of $199 (approx. £154.87/ AU$303.91). Once the crowdfunding campaign concludes, the device will be available to buy through RingConn and select third-party retailers like Amazon.
Specifications
- Weight: 2-3 grams
- Thickness: 2 mm
- Available sizes: 6-14
- Battery life: up to 10-12 days
- Water rating: Water resistant up to 100m/328 ft
- Colours: Future Silver/Rose Gold/Royal Gold (gloss finish), Matte Black (matt finish)
Design and build quality
The RingConn Smart Ring Gen 2 is the thinnest and lightest ring on the market. It weighs 2-3 grams and is only 2 mm thick. Compare this with the Oura Ring Gen 3, which weighs twice as much (4-6 grams) and is 2.55 mm thick.
I tested the Matte Black variety, and it’s not too dissimilar to the tungsten rings I have. I wore it on my ring finger because the company didn’t have my usual size 12 ring available for testing, so I opted for a size 11, which was too small for my index finger.
The RingConn Smart Ring Gen 2's water rating has doubled from 50m to 100m. I don't know whether this means the ring is safe for swimming in the pool or the sea, but you can certainly wear it for handwashing and showering.
Sensor-wise, it’s enabled with a PPG sensor, temperature sensor and a 3-axis accelerometer. There is no GPS or WiFi, which is understandable for such a small device.
I can’t stress enough how not-smart ring-like the RingConn Gen 2 feels. Most of it is due to the lack of resin coating on the inside. Well, it has some resin over the sensors, but the rest of the ring is pretty thin. It’s amazing to see that the most affordable smart ring brand was the first one to make its wearable this compact.
(New) features and health tracking
The RingConn Smart Ring Gen 2 does everything the first iteration of the ring could, including tracking sleep, stress, and activity, as well as heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring.
It also has elements of gamification to motivate people to make better health choices. You’re given sleep, stress and activity scores (out of 100), and there are also virtual badges up for grabs if you hit your daily goals. Admittedly, this latter feature isn’t quite as robust as on other wearable devices, but it’s a nice touch nevertheless.
Stress tracking is one of my favourite features. The RingConn Smart Ring Gen 2 tracks your stress levels continuously but breaks your score down for different parts of the day. So, you get different sub-scores for early morning, morning, afternoon and evening. You can also keep track of your trends for each section in the RingConn app.
One of the biggest new features is sleep apnea monitoring. According to RingConn, the Gen 2 is the first smart ring to introduce this feature. It’s not automatic – you have to start tracking in the app manually when you go to sleep – but it’s available.
In terms of accuracy, I found this feature's blood oxygen estimations a bit off. None of my other wearables ever said I had any issues with my SpO2, but the RingConn Gen 2 said at least twice that my levels were too low during the night. The breathing monitoring looks okay, though.
Speaking of non-automatic features, exercise tracking is also one of these. The Gen 2 will track steps and calories burnt all day, but it can’t tell if you’re running or cycling unless you start and stop the workout in the app.
There are only four sports modes available: outdoor running, indoor running, outdoor cycling and outdoor walking. There is no custom mode, either. Not having a robust fitness tracking feature set is the price you pay for the RingConn Smart Ring Gen 2 being affordable.
Sleep tracking is really good. REM sleep and time spent awake are the two areas where RingConn Smart Ring Gen 2 wasn’t on the ball compared to the Oura Ring Gen 3. Otherwise, the charts and numbers look like they are in the same ballpark.
Battery life
The RingConn Smart Ring Gen 2 has by far the longest battery life of all smart rings. Not only does it have 10-12 days of battery life with a single charge, but the case also holds up to 150 days (!) worth of charge. This means if the charging case is full and in your bag, you don’t have to reach for your cable for nearly half a year, which is quite something.
The company says it refined the ‘pathways’ and enhanced algorithms to achieve reduced power consumption while maintaining performance levels. Plus, the Gen 2 has an ‘advanced’ MCU chip, which is said to provide faster processing speeds, improved performance, and notably reduced power consumption.
Verdict
The RingConn Smart Ring Gen 2 shows that there is nothing wrong with not adding a million swanky features to a wearable as long as you nail the basics. For an affordable wearable, the Gen 2 is a surprisingly competent smart ring that also looks the least bulky of all the options available right now.
Exercise tracking isn’t amazing, and some of the estimations are also off (e.g. SpO2), but overall, it’s a brilliant little wearable for the price-conscious who need a reliable tracker for keeping tabs on certain health metrics.
Also consider
Similarly to the RingConn Gen 2, the Ultrahuman Ring Air is a lightweight, durable smart ring focusing on health and sleep tracking rather than fitness. It offers detailed insights through its app, including unique features like Circadian Phase Alignment and stimulant recommendations. The Ring Air excels in long-term health monitoring without subscription fees. Read my full Ultrahuman Ring Air review.
