Over the last year or so, our long journey towards getting hands-on with the final version of the Samsung Galaxy Ring has been filled with rumors, surprise reveals, a few secret meetings, and plenty of pithy Lord of the Rings jokes. 

The smart ring is a brand-new format for Samsung, having previously been the province of startups like Oura Health – which makes our current best smart ring, the Oura Ring. Samsung has a lot riding on the Galaxy Ring being a success; based on known patent filings, Google and Apple are watching very closely, and presumably preparing (if they haven’t done so already) to develop prototypes of their own if the smart ring is deemed workable, helpful and – most of all – profitable. A new age of health-focused wearables has begun. 

Having finally handled the gold and black versions of the Galaxy Ring for a few minutes, there’s a lot I can now say about the Ring – although not much about how it works for me. Samsung says its wearable is designed to be a “set and forget” experience, with its unobtrusive form factor and long battery life contributing to the idea that you’ll barely need to think about the Ring while you’re wearing it. 

It’s water-resistant to 100 meters, lasts for almost a week (pushing up to 10 days when you combine it with one of Samsung’s best smartwatches, as they share the fitness-tracking load to extend the Ring’s battery life) and has several characteristics built into its construction that help to make it impressively scratch-resistant. 

It’s designed to be a passive wearable; while it does have some limited fitness application, its main focus is wellness, which is important to distinguish from fitness. Fitness is workouts. Wellness is a more holistic concept, incorporating an overall approach towards mental and physical wellbeing, recovery, and health. Sleep is a huge part of this, and sleep is the area that the Samsung Galaxy Ring is really designed to excel in.  

Samsung Galaxy Ring: specifications

We wants it, Precious: price and availability

The Samsung Galaxy Ring costs both more and less than its chief competitor, the Oura Ring Generation 3 – allow me to explain. 

Samsung’s model clocks in at $399 / £399 / around AU$750 (AU prices TBC) and will be on shelves from July 24. For that price, you get the Ring, the charging case, and access to a sizing kit before your ring arrives to ensure that you get the perfect fit. 

This isn’t too dissimilar to its competitors: while Ringconn, Ultrahuman and Oura devices are cheaper (Ultrahuman Ring Air and Oura Ring Generation 3 both cost around $299 / £329 / AU$599, and Ringconn undercuts them both at $279 / around £220 or AU$420, market leader Oura also recommends that you pay a $5.99 premium subscription fee after the first six months to get the most out of your ring. 

So Samsung’s up-front costs are higher, but without a subscription, it works out cheaper than Oura long-term, although not quite as cheap as the Ultrahuman and Ringconn offerings. One distinct barrier to owning a Samsung Galaxy Ring that it’s important to mention is that it’s designed to work seamlessly with the Samsung Health app, so you’ll need one of the best Samsung phones to make the most of it.   

Reinventing the wheel: design

Up until now, I’d only seen and worn a prototype Samsung Galaxy Ring, but the final design is more or less identical to the early models I tried. It was comfortable to wear then, and during my brief tests with the actual ring, that hasn’t changed. It comes in sizes ranging from US sizes 5 to size 13, ranging in weight from 2.3g to 3g, and the exact battery size depends on your ring size: the bigger the ring, the longer it’ll last. 

However, the size you wear shouldn’t dramatically affect the performance of the Galaxy Ring; it’ll still keep going for most of the week, passively tracking your health. There’s no display on the ring, which is hardly surprising given its size (although that might not be the case with future versions), so you’ll need to check the Samsung Health app for updates on your ring’s battery life. 

You have the option of three colors; Black, Titanium Gold, and Titanium Silver. However, despite their appearance, all are constructed of scratch-resistant titanium. The materials aren’t the only durability feature Samsung has implemented here: the shape of the ring also stops it getting damaged. 

If you imagine looking at a section through the ring, most smart rings are either uniformly curved, or concave, so they bulge out slightly relative to the curvature of your finger. 

The Samsung Galaxy Ring on the other hand, has a concave shape, a design choice that Samsung has made in order to made to prevent scratches or wear and tear to the surface of the Galaxy Ring, as the protective raised edges function like the bezel of a sports watch. Samsung adopted a similar design with the adventure-focused Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro, which had a raised bezel to reduce the possibility of impact on its screen. Below, you can see an image of the concave Galaxy Ring alongside the convex Oura Ring Generation 3.  

You can see another, top-down image below of the silver Oura Ring and the gold Galaxy Ring, and as you can see it’s tough to tell them apart.  Although the outside of the Samsung Galaxy Ring is very different to its rivals, the underside looks almost identical, with three raised nodules to improve skin contact.  

The Galaxy Ring’s charging case is a big improvement on Oura’s. Oura offers a node on which you can place the ring, which plugs into a standard USB-C charger. Samsung has gone one step further and placed the nodule inside an engagement ring-style box, which has its own internal battery, similar to cases for earbuds. The box is transparent, so works with all ring colors, and it can be wirelessly or USB-C charged, and is good for five or six full charges. 

When I saw the box I had nightmares of the Ring having to be placed back in the box every 24 hours or so for an additional top-up, but the case is an added convenience, rather than a way to make up for a shortfall in the ring’s battery life.  

The inner circle: features

The Ring isn’t stuffed with features in the same way as a Samsung Galaxy Watch might be: with no display, ways of interacting with the device or apps to speak of, it’s designed to be a “set and forget” tracker that passively monitors your health over the course of the week, looking at heart rate, sleep quality, skin temperature, blood oxygen sensing and much more. Galaxy AI allows it to intelligently monitor for unusual heart-rate data and flag inconsistencies. 

The Galaxy Ring is designed to be excellent at sleep tracking, just like the Oura, and Samsung has gone all-in here. All the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7’s sleep-guidance features, such as the use of sleep profiles (also known as chronotypes) represented by a cute animal to give you personalized guidance, and using algorithms driven by Galaxy AI to better analyze your sleep health, are all here. Likewise, your ring will generate an Energy Score for you each morning, based on the quality of your sleep and your general activity levels, which is similar to the best Fitbits’ Daily Readiness Score or Garmin’s Body Battery functionality. Collecting metrics via your Ring or Watch and scoring your wellbeing out of 100, Samsung Health can offer personalized advice, telling you to rest as much as you can, or telling you to get out there and give it your all. 

The Galaxy Ring records many of the same metrics as the Watch, and feeds them into the same app – Samsung Health – so the similarities are by design. It might put existing Samsung Galaxy Watch users off buying the Ring initially, but they do work together. Samsung says using the Ring in conjunction with your watch extends the Ring’s battery life by up to 30% and increases the accuracy of the metrics recorded; however, I suspect only Samsung power users will opt to buy both devices, unless they’re bundled together as part of a cellphone data package.  

Despite the fact that it’s a passive tracker, the Galaxy Ring does have some fitness applications too. It will automatically track walking and running workouts, logging them in the Samsung Health app so you don’t have to go through the process of retroactively ‘tagging’ workouts in a timeline of your heart rate data to explain any anomalies. However, this only works with walking and running, so any other form of activity using the ring, such as swimming or cycling, will need to be qualified in the Samsung Health app. 

Individual insights on steps, exercise, and blood oxygen levels are collected automatically, while food, water and medications can all be inputted manually into Samsung Health to create a more complete picture of your health. Menstrual cycle tracking is a big part of most health-tracking tools these days, especially trackers focused on wellness over fitness, and the Galaxy Ring doesn’t disappoint here either, predicting cycles based on overnight skin temperature.  

Outside of health tracking, Samsung’s even squeezed in some more general user applications too – and impressively the Galaxy Ring supports gesture controls. Simply pinch the air to dismiss an alarm on a Samsung Galaxy phone, or control a phone camera’s shutter, using the same pinch gesture to take the picture. Neat stuff, although it does of course require a Galaxy phone to work. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to try this feature with a Galaxy phone during our brief tests. 

Early Verdict: preaching to the converted

Is the Samsung Galaxy Ring good? Yes, is the answer. Will it dominate the emerging smart ring scene? Not quite, simply because its best features only work with Samsung phones. It might be cool enough to get a few people to switch from their preferred brands, but buying a new phone just so that you can then buy a $399 / £399 / AU$750 device on top of that is a big ask for most people. 

Samsung users are going to get a real kick out of the Galaxy Ring if the promise of this tiny gadget can live up to a week of hard testing. Everyone else, however – including those who are committed users of the best iPhones – will be better off picking another ring, like an Oura or Ultrahuman. The Samsung Galaxy Ring is shaping up to be a very good wearable, but it’s not the One Ring to rule them all.  

Coopah App: One-minute review

Coopah is an easy-to-use, well-designed app. It was the official partner of the TCS London Marathon 2024, and one of the best fitness apps for planning your runs, alongside competitors like Runna. It is perfect if you’re training for a particular race: it will set you up with a personalized plan within a couple of minutes. 

The app is clearly formatted and well-designed, although I did find it tricky to change my training days at first. I liked how it kept me on track most weeks and added yoga and strength days. 

You can use the app via your smartphone and your smartwatch, either syncing your watch to the app or manually submitting your data, although anyone with one of the best running watches will find it easy to sync up. The app will inform (and congratulate) you when you are on a 'streak' of workouts, when you’ve completed a run, and when you move into the next phase of your training. 

The app offers real-life coaches dishing out advice via the Coach tab, plus video advice for those new to running practices such as tempos and intervals. For just shy of £60 a year, the app can be a real motivator, and get you to the start line feeling confident. After all, it did so with plenty of London runners.

Coopah App review: Specifications

Coopah App review: Design

• Clear layout  
• Designed for races 
• Informative videos 

The app has a clear layout, with five tabs at the bottom stating how to navigate your way through the app. Once you’ve set up the app and selected a training plan, your plan will sit on the Welcome page. The page shows the plan you’ve created, your current plan's phase, and a brief overview of your training. If you're new to running you may also find the videos helpful, with some of their trainers taking you through how to perform interval or tempo runs. 

I chose to make a plan for the London Landmarks and it laid out my 16-week plan for me. However you can start as close or as far away from your race as you want, but to reap the most benefits I assume you’d need at least six weeks of training. 

Once I had a plan, the app broke each phase down further into separate sections. First off was a Base, where I would build up my running for three weeks; Strength weeks, to really rack up those miles and complete some strength training; then finally two weeks of Taper, to ease off before the run.

The Training tab is really useful. Every week, it gives you a breakdown of your training day by day and any rest days. While if you click on the progress tab to the right at the top it will show you how far you’ve come after a few weeks or months of training. 

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

Coopah App review: Features

• Personalized coaching from elite runners
• No smartwatch needed
• Money-back guarantee and in-app deals

The most unique feature of the Coopah app is that if you are not happy with your training plan, and you feel as though it didn’t help you get around the race course, you can ask for your money back. 

Of course, you’d have to prove that you put the work in, but it shows the creators believe in their product. The app’s reward section also means you can pick up some discounts on trainers, physio appointments, and other running-related goods and services from partners, like Sportsshoes.com and Precision Hydration. So, hey, it could save you some money.  

Onto the features themselves. The Coach tab allows you to submit questions to real coaches, who typically reply within one hour.  You can ask your coach anything you want, about running, nutrition, injuries, and so on. Big names include coach and runner James Thie and running coach Jordan Foster, while founder Peter Coopah also answers anything technical about the app. 

Each plan offers personalized pacing based on the information collected, and plans are dynamic: as you input your results, the plan may change depending on your performance. 

You don't need the best smartwatch to record your run, either: it'll work just fine using the GPS on your phone. All you need is an arm, chest or waist strap and you're away. A great feature, and a potential big money-saver. 

Features: 5 / 5

Coopah App review: Performance

• Easy to use 
• Tracks via your phone or watch 
• No guidance as you run 

On the days you’re scheduled to run, you can tap the desired day on your plan and hit ‘record run’. As mentioned, you can do this via your smartphone, but using the best Garmin watch, best Apple Watch or similar will allow you to record via your watch as usual, and upload your information automatically. As you run it tracks your progress, and Coopah punctuates every mile completed it informs you of your pace.

However, the app lacks any motivational phrases or active coaching as you run, as its competitor app Runna provides, it won’t tell you to increase your pace, to keep on target or tell you how to up your cadence, but it does give you basic data at the end. This will show your splits, pace, and effort, which can then be assessed against your targets.

If you forgot to record the run you can import the data from a smartwatch, or manually add it in yourself. If you’re overly competitive with yourself, you can also asses your progress week-by-week – this will compare the distance you’ve run, streaks that week, sessions completed and your pace against prior weeks.

I asked the app to schedule me three runs a week, but you can change your schedule if you’re hoping to do more training sessions. I would have preferred a more flexible choice of between two and three sessions a week, as I also train at the gym and cycle. 

I was given a mix of one long run, intervals, and shorter runs each week. I originally found it complicated to change the days I was running, so making this process more straightforward would streamline the process.  

The plan starts with a build-up for one week, three weeks of Base training and subsequent Strength weeks, depending on how early you start your plan. I chose an 11-week plan, so more than enough time to train for a half-marathon while factoring in two weeks to taper. 

However, I found that some of the longer runs were too long, arriving too soon in my strength phase. Nevertheless, it’s a great program to have in your pocket and certainly kept me on track. I’d love to see more coaching while running, so you can keep up with your desired pace, and also the ability to input other types of training, such as HIIT classes and yoga, so you can see how this affects your performance. 

Performance: 4.5 / 5 

Coopah App review: Scorecard

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Laifen Wave: One-minute review

Suffice to say, Chinese brand Laifen is pretty excited to bring its latest device, the Laifen Wave, to market – especially following the success of its supersonic hairdryer, the Laifen Swift. Is it the best electric toothbrush? Not in my view; but it’s a very promising start, and for those who need frequent deep cleans, it could be everything they’ve been hoping for. 

Laifen has made some pretty bold claims about the efficacy of the Laifen Wave toothbrush, including that it “perfectly aligns with the dentist-recommended Bass brushing technique” and offers three times the power and brushing efficiency of a standard electric toothbrush. Based on my experience, that may be true – my teeth felt cleaner than ever after using the toothbrush. However, I’m not entirely convinced that this level of deep cleaning is necessary, nor healthy, on a daily basis.

The Laifen Wave offers 60-degree oscillation with 66,000 vibrations per minute, mimicking the motion of a regular non-electric toothbrush for what Laifen promises is a superior clean. You can set up three brushing profiles in the app, selecting between 10 levels of oscillation range and power, as well as vibration power. Plus, it has an average 30-day battery life, and takes only 2.5-3 hours to charge.

One thing is for certain, the Laifen Wave is a looker. It’s available in three different finishes: ABS plastic, aluminum alloy, and stainless steel. The toothbrush stands at 5.7in / 142.7mm tall, which is a little shorter than the majority of electric toothbrushes, but which makes it an excellent travel companion.

Laifen Wave review: Pricing

At the top of the handle sit three indicator lights that display the current mode selected, and just below these you’ll find the touch-sensitive power button. Towards the bottom sit an option for airplane mode and a battery indicator. 

I tested the stainless steel model, clad in a gorgeous shiny casing that certainly makes it the best-looking toothbrush I’ve ever used. Note that it does scuff easily, and is pretty slippery when wet, which could quickly result in a very scruffy-looking finish. 

The toothbrush heads are also a thing of beauty – well, as much as they can be. Elegant and slim, these heads are bespoke, although Philips Sonicare heads do fit, which is a real boon given you’ll be hard-pressed to find the Laifen Wave toothbrush heads in your local drugstore.

Out of the box, the Laifen Wave comes with three different toothbrush heads designed for different purposes: gum care, ultra-whitening and super clean. I found myself most drawn to the softer gum care brush head; but the super clean makes fantastic work of cleaning deeper into the recesses of your mouth, while the ultra-whitening brush head offers powerful cleaning to leave your grill gleaming. These can be purchased in packs of three or six directly from Laifen for $9.99 (about £8) and $16.99 (about £15) respectively. 

I don’t love the quality of the toothbrush heads; the bristles are great on all three heads, but they require some force to attach to the handle and can sometimes, rather inexplicably, become stuck. 

My stainless steel handle came with transparent heads instead of the white variant – which proved insightful. I noticed after not using the toothbrush for a week that a lot of condensation builds up inside the stem and inside the brush casing, which doesn’t feel particularly hygienic. 

This can happen in most toothbrush heads, but is easily rectified by removing them and shaking out any residue. However, with the Laifen Wave, not only is removing the head difficult, but it’s also supposedly watertight, meaning the water in the brush head either trickled down from the brush, or seeped in over time through the sealant. Neither bodes well for the brush design, or makes it terribly easy to prevent. 

Broadly speaking, though, I’ve been happy with the results, and I welcome the fact that the brush is customizable. 

After a super-quick and easy pairing process with its companion app, you can adjust the oscillation range and speed, as well as the vibration. You can also switch on flight mode, 30-second reminders, and even a high-frequency mode that unlocks a further 10 vibration strength settings. However, note that you need the app to really unlock most of these features. 

I did appreciate that you can set up different profiles and navigate between them by double-tapping the power button on the handle, though, as well as the ability to toggle flight mode by long-pressing the power button.

There are also some other clever features. When you pick up the toothbrush, it will turn on automatically. It will also activate its “backpack mode” when in motion for more than three minutes, which prevents battery wastage. That’s great; but some features I consider must-haves – such as pressure sensors – are missing. 

One thing that really ground my gears with the Laifen Wave is that, due to its oscillating head, it’s really easy to make a huge mess while brushing your teeth. I found that when I cleaned behind my lower-front teeth, the Laifen Wave flicked toothpaste and spit everywhere, meaning I was constantly cleaning up globs from all over my bathroom sink.

With the toothbrush heads being made of quite thick and robust plastic, I also learned the hard way that you really don’t want to nick your teeth while brushing. I was in physical pain for about 10 minutes one day having lost focus while brushing my teeth and catching the tip of my tooth with the back of the toothbrush head – I can’t say for sure, but I’m pretty sure I was close to chipping it. 

That alone was enough for me to think twice about recommending the Laifen Wave – which is a shame, since I think it shows a lot of promise and could be fantastic for those who struggle with gum health and plaque buildup. Right now, though, it just hasn’t been thought through quite enough.

Laifen Wave review: Specs

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How I tested the Laifen Wave

•  I used the Laifen Wave as my main toothbrush for two months
•  I brushed my teeth twice a day  
•  I tried the different settings and toothbrush heads 

To test the Laifen Wave, I used it every day, twice a day, as my main toothbrush. While I settled on my personalized settings and favored brush head, I tried all of the different power settings and heads to see how effective they were in use.

I also tested all of the extra features – the smart-lifting technology, backpack mode, airplane mode and high-frequency mode – and found they all worked as described.

I’ve been reviewing lifestyle technology for two years, but like all readers, I’ve been brushing my teeth for a lot longer. I’ve used a variety of toothbrushes over the years, from budget-friendly to premium, and used this combined experience to rate the Laifen Wave.