The Oura Ring 4 Has Landed — Here's What's New
It's been a busy year for smart rings. After months of rumours, Samsung finally entered the market in July with its own miniature health tracker, the Samsung Galaxy Ring. Now, three years since Oura last released a new generation device, the market-leader of finger-worn wearables has revealed the much-anticipated Oura Ring 4.
Promising a sleeker, more comfortable smart ring with more powerful sensors and a revamped app experience, the Oura Ring 4 looks set to be the most comprehensive daily health tracking wearable yet. I got my hands on one to get a first look ahead of its official UK release date on 15 October. Here's what's new.
New Fit and Feel
The design of the Oura Ring 4 isn't dramatically different to the Oura Ring 3. The overall look is similar, with the same flush outer as the Gen 3 Horizon version, the same indent on the outside (which indicates where to position the sensors), and a familiar suite of colourways. Nevertheless, the Ring 4 is noticeably sleeker than its predecessor and, upon closer inspection, the sensors on the interior are now recessed at 0.3mm so they don't protrude out like previous versions. Oura claims that this, along with the new titanium interior, makes the Oura Ring 4 the most comfortable yet.
The Ring 4 is also available in a wider range of sizes to accommodate larger and smaller finger sizes. Sizes now range from 4 to 15 — up from 6 to 13 with the Gen 3. Oura says this will help to accommodate athletes with bigger hands, plus give more choice to women, who now make up the majority of Oura users.
Redesigned Sensors
As well as now being recessed in the interior of the ring, the sensors themselves have also been upgraded. Oura has more than doubled the number of available signal pathways up to 18 by pairing its sensors with a new algorithm. This means that the Gen 4 can automatically adapt to the physiology of your finger in order to find the best signal pathway should the ring change position during the day or while you sleep. Oura claims this new 'Smart Sensing' technology enables the Oura Ring 4 to gather more continuous data, with 7% fewer gaps in daytime heart rate data and 31% fewer at night, improving the metrics inside its companion app.
App Makeover
Speaking of which, the Oura app has been revamped and simplified to give wearers an at-a-glance view of their health, with three new easily accessible tabs: Today, Vitals and MyHealth. Today showcases contextual health information that changes throughout the day, giving users a quick snapshot of things like heart rate, stress, readiness and sleep. Vitals hosts more in-depth biometric data where users can dig further into their data. While the MyHealth tab provides longer term data, such as cardiovascular age, cardio capacity, stress resilience, and sleep trends.
The Oura Ring 4 also now features automatic activity detection and tracking for a wider breadth of activities, which is a major new addition compared to the Gen 3. Heart rate zone data for workouts is also now available, so you can track how hard you're pushing yourself on your runs without having to log your heart rate manually.
Oura has also upgraded its daily stress tracking, making it easier to see when and why you may be experiencing stress during the day, while also making it easier to understand how your daily behaviours are contributing. The new app also lets you add context to your data by inputting what you've done each day into a daily journal — be it a morning walk, a heavy lunch, a stressful meeting at work, or a few beers at the weekend.
Better Battery
According to Oura, the Ring 4 delivers a whole day extra battery life compared to the Ring 3, with up to eight days use off a single charge. I've not had the opportunity to test this yet, but over the coming weeks I'll be able to see if these claims run true. Elsewhere, the charging stand itself has also had a makeover, now featuring a new square shape and rubber base for grip.
How to Pre-order the Oura Ring 4
Available from 15 October, the Oura Ring 4 is now available for pre-order in the UK, starting at £349 in the Silver and Black colourways. Brushed Silver and Stealth are priced at £399, while the Gold and Rose Gold versions are listed at £499. To use the Oura Ring 4 and access the companion app also requires a £5.99 per month membership.
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