The wrist has become the most common place to put activity trackers, but it’s not the only place. The start-up Motiv has unveiled the Motiv Ring: a simple device that tracks your activity and heart rate with a simple band around your finger.
Motiv is hardly the first company to sell a connected ring, but one thing that separates it is the product’s discipline. It’s not a notification device, so it doesn’t light up or vibrate. There’s no screen, except for a single- pixel LED that can tell you that the device is alive. All it does is measure movement with a three-axis accelerometer and heart-rate, the latter with optical sensors. It syncs to an app using Bluetooth. Execs say the Li-Ion battery should last a week between charges.
The ring is metal, 8mm wide, plain and unadorned, and waterproof to 5ATM so you don’t need to take it off to wash your hands or go swimming. It comes in seven sizes and two colors: Rose Gold and Slate Gray.
Pre-orders are open, for $199, with shipping expected in early March. Because purchasing is directly through the company and because it’s not possible to resize a ring (electronics being electronics), the actual buying process is a little complex. When the Motive Ring is ready for shipping, you’ll first get a sizing kit and a special code. Once you confirm what size ring you want, you’ll enter that information on the Motiv web site, and only then will they send the ring.
From what we’ve seen (though we haven’t held it in our hands, and the feel of such things is important), the Motiv Ring is simple and elegant, which makes it worth investigating further.
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