Over the past year or so, I’ve really gotten very interested in smart rings. Because they give me a way to continue tracking my health stats, without wearing a smartwatch all the time. And they also provide much longer battery life, versus a smartwatch. The first smart ring I wore, was Samsung’s Galaxy Ring last year. It was great, I really liked the charging case that it comes in, but it is limited to Android and some features are limited to Galaxy devices only.
Then came the Oura Ring 4, which I unfortunately haven’t been able to get my hands on yet. Oura said they’d send one out, but that hasn’t happened yet. Then at CES in January, I met RingConn, who I was very excited to check out. Partly because it does work on both platforms (iOS and Android), and as someone that does switch between those platforms, it caught my attention.
So RingConn sent out their Gen 2 Air, and then a few weeks later the Gen 2 arrived. I’ve spent most of my time using the Gen 2 Air, and really like it. However, there are a few differences between the two, which help to make up that $100 difference.
RingConn Gen 2 vs Gen 2 Air
So what’s the difference between these two rings? Well, first off, the Gen 2 is more expensive at $299. While the Gen 2 Air is only $199. That’s actually a really good price for a smart ring. Secondly, the Gen 2 Air is a tiny bit lighter. Since my scale doesn’t do decimal points for grams, I had to switch over to ounces, and the Gen 2 is 0.14 ounce, while Gen 2 Air is 0.11 ounce. Honestly, it’s hard to tell the difference in the size.
The rings look identical, I do have both rings in the same size 13. However, the RingConn Gen 2 does not have a line showing you how to line it up on your finger. Giving it a cleaner look, but basically, the flat side with all the sensors, you want on the inside part of your finger.
The only big health metric that the RingConn Gen 2 Air is missing, would be sleep apnea monitoring, which the Gen 2 does have. And is currently the only smart ring with sleep apnea monitoring. It does have a bit more advanced health metrics versus the Air, but it’s fairly minor. If you’re someone who thinks you might have sleep apnea, or definitely does have it, then the Gen 2 might be the better option for you.
Finally, colors do differ as well. The Gen 2 is available in Future Silver, Matte Black, Royal Gold, and Rose Gold. While the Gen 2 Air is in Galaxy Silver and Dune Gold. Both offer sizes from 6-14, and the Gen 2 comes with the charging case which can provide you up to 150 days of usage – a huge advantage in my opinion, though it does also work on the Gen 2 Air, thankfully.
RingConn Gen 2 Air Ultimate Review: Design and Build Quality
The RingConn Gen 2 Air does vary in weight from 2.5 grams up to 4 grams, keep in mind that RingConn does offer this in sizes from 6 all the way up to 14. So it’s going to cover most people. They also offer a ring sizing kit that can be sent out to you, to get the perfect size. Which, RingConn says that it’s best to wear on your index or middle finger of your non-dominant hand. I was wearing it on my index finger, but found it was scratching phones that I was holding (specifically foldable phones) so I switched it over to my middle finger.
RingConn is using premium stainless steel for the Gen 2 Air, which looks great and does pretty well at withstanding everything I’ve put it through. I do have the Galaxy Silver color, which does show quite a few scratches. However, you can’t really see them, unless you look very closely at the ring. Which I’m perfectly fine with.
With the Gen 2 Air, you get a charging dock instead of a charging case, which is fine. It’s one way that RingConn is able to keep the price so much lower. But keep in mind that it’s the same dock no matter the size, so larger sizes like my size 13, won’t fit snugly on the dock. It caught me a little off-guard at first. But I assume that by having the exact same dock in every box, it also saves RingConn some cash.
The RingConn Gen 2 Air looks pretty nice on my hands. Though I’m still a novice to wearing rings, so not everyone will agree. However, the Gen 2 Air is one of the cheaper smart rings on the market. It actually matches the Amazfit Helios Ring, which is also $199.
RingConn Gen 2 Air Ultimate Review: Health and Fitness Tracking
On the RingConn website, the company says that the Gen 2 Air has “Essential Daily Health Insights”, versus the Gen 2 having “Pro-grade Health tracking”, neither one has subscription fees so that’s a huge plus for RingConn. As Oura makes you pay at least $349 for their ring, and then you have to pay monthly to really make use of the ring.
The RingConn Gen 2 Air does only provide “essential” health tracking, however, I think it’s plenty for most people. If you’re looking for more details, you’re likely going to be looking for a Garmin or WHOOP anyway.
On the main page of the RingConn app, you’l see the Wellness Balance, which gives you scores for Relax, Sleep, Vitals and your Activity. Below that, you can see additional details like your sleep, activity, etc. RingConn will also give you yearly and weekly reports on your stats. As well as showing you a 7-day average for each metric. And I will say, these metrics looked really out of wack when I flew to Singapore for the OPPO Find N5 event recently. Going from a 12-hour night of sleep to 4 hours, back to around 10 hours, and back to 4. Intercontinental travel will do that to you.
What I really like about the RingConn Gen 2 Air is, that you can connect it to Apple Health (iOS) or Google Fit (Android), which also means that it will work with Health Connect on Android. So you can connect it with your Fitbit, Galaxy Watch or something else you’ve been using on Android, or your Apple Watch on iOS. It not only reads the data, but also writes to it. As someone that does typically use both platforms, it is nice to have this option. Though, you can only use one platform at a time, which shouldn’t be a surprise, but that is one of the limitations here.
The RingConn app is pretty minimal. There’s not a lot of options here, especially for the ring. Which is not surprising, since there’s no screen, so your options are mostly, low power mode or not. I’d say the app is very user friendly, which is more than I can say about some smartwatches.
RingConn Gen 2 Air Ultimate Review: Battery life and Charging
RingConn says on its website that you can get up to 10 days of battery life. I’ve found that to be close to accurate, for my usage. I was typically getting 8-9 days on a charge before putting it on the charger, with around 15-20% left. I also charged it before leaving for Mobile World Congress about a week ago, flew to Barcelona, did three days of MWC and flew home (which took an extra day due to the weather) and it still had around 40% left, after about 6 days of pretty heavy tracking. I say this because, it was tracking far more steps than usual – closer to 30K, versus my usual 10-12K.
So battery life is great, it’s way better than what my Apple Watch is able to offer, and even my OnePlus Watch 3. And that’s one of the reasons why I love it so much. To charge it, just place it onto the dock, and you’ll get a notification on your phone when it is fully charged.
Now, RingConn doesn’t yet sell the battery case that comes with the Gen 2, separately, though I believe that will change in the future. If you have the battery case, you can pop it in and have it charge. The case is able to provide around 15 full charges, which is equal to around 150 days of usage, so the case itself only needs to be charged about every 5-6 months. It’s much larger than the Galaxy Ring case, but I really like having this case, as I don’t need to worry about charging it, just popping the ring onto the charger and be done with it.
Should you buy the RingConn Gen 2 Air?
Despite my love for the Gen 2 Air, I am actually likely going to be using the RingConn Gen 2 for the foreseeable future. Simply because of the slightly longer battery life and more advanced metrics. But that doesn’t make the RingConn Gen 2 Air a bad ring, in fact it’s an incredible one, especially for this price.
If you are looking for a smart ring that can track the usual health and fitness metrics and is more comfortable than wearing a watch wit more battery life, then the RingConn Gen 2 Air is the way to go. What makes it even better is that it works on both mobile platforms.
