Movano Ring looks cool, but it will only hit the shelves in the second half of 2022, and most of its core health tricks are awaiting regulatory nod.
Movano is trying to redefine the fitness wearable game for women, and its weapon of choice to accomplish that is a smart ring that looks great and also packs in a bunch of health-centric tricks that won’t leave the target audience wanting for more. One of the biggest names in the smart ring domain is Oura. Its offerings are brimming with advanced tracking features, but the chunky looks are an acquired taste, and it definitely hasn’t been designed with the female demographic in mind.
Another name trying to make a splash in the domain is the Orii, but again, the design is far from what one would even call unisex. There are a few other offerings in the market that target functionalities like contactless payments and smart home gadgets, such as the NFC Opn and RingPay. The likes of Garmin have tried their hands at smartwatches squarely targeted at women with products like the Lily smartwatch, and Fossil has also launched Wear OS-based smartwatches with a similar focus, but smart rings have so far been barren land.
Movano aims to change that with its Ring smart wearable, thanks to its sleek profile and pleasingly twisted form factor. Plus, it also comes in a choice of four material accent options — plain black, copper, gold, and silver. But looks are only half the picture here, as Movano’s Ring aims to stand out with its fitness-centric capabilities as well. For starters, the accompanying app will offer actionable insights to the person wearing it, based on the data collected by its onboard sensors. Movano’s press release mentions that its eponymous ring and the accompanying app “combine vital health metrics with personalized intelligent feedback.”
A Ton of Promises, Pending Clearance
Now, let’s talk about its arsenal of health-centric features. The Movano ring can track general activity and sedentary patterns, heart rate, heart rate variability, respiration rate, body temperature, step count, calories burned and blood oxygen saturation levels. More importantly, the company claims that the insightful health data provided by the accompanying app will help users reduce the risk of chronic diseases. For example, it will tell how exercise habits will affect their sleep patterns and heart rate variation over time. Interestingly, the company is also conducting medical trials for non-invasive blood glucose monitoring and cuffless blood pressure measurement using in-house Radio Frequency-enabled technology to its smart rings in the future.
But there’s a catch to all that promised goodness — Movano is still awaiting the Food and Drug Administration clearance, specifically for core features such as heart rate tracking and blood oxygen saturation level measurement. Obtaining the necessary medical certifications is not exactly a cakewalk for a relatively small brand. There is also a chance that some of the features might be axed if they don’t meet the necessary standards. And just like Samsung and its smartwatches that got features such as blood pressure measurement in batches in different markets due to regulatory hurdles, Movano Ring buyers in markets outside the U.S. might also face a similar predicament. Movano says it will launch its fitness ring in the second half of 2022 but hasn’t detailed the regional availability.
Source: PRNewswire / Movano
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