So far most of the hype around wearable tech has been focused on the best smartwatches, but smart rings are even more subtle and useful: because they don't have to do smartwatch stuff they're much smaller and their batteries last for ages, making them potentially the best kind of health trackers. So far the market belongs to the Oura Ring, which is currently in its third generation, but I'm sure I'm not the only person put off by its rather chunky and masculine design.
That's where the Evie Smart Ring comes in. The image above is a render rather than an actual photo but it shows the design of the product that'll ship, and it appears to have substance to match the style. It's a new health tracker from the health tech firm Movano, who probably didn't name themselves after the Vauxhall delivery van of the same name, and in addition to health tracking the firm intends to get full FDA certification for the Evie. That, Movano says, would make it the first consumer wearable that's also a medical device.
What does the Evie Smart Ring do?
According to Movano, "Evie combines health and wellness metrics to give a full picture of one's health: resting heart rate, heart rate variability, SpO2, respiration rate, skin temperature variability, period and ovulation tracking, menstrual symptom tracking, activity profile, including steps, active minutes and, calories burned, sleep stages and duration, and mood tracking." The USP here is medical-grade accuracy, so for example Evie will use heart rate and SpO2 data to help provide insights into sleep quality and menstrual cycles.
Evie will be unveiled at CES next week, and while the price hasn't been comfirmed Movano says it's going for a sub-$300 price point – and unlike the Oura Ring there will be no monthly subscription fees. You can find out more on the Evie Ring website.
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Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).