If you’re trying to get fit, but, unusually, don’t want to bore your friends about it, the Motiv Smart Ring might be just the thing
Motiv Smart Ring £99, uk.mymotiv.com
Not many gadgets make you feel like Prince Harry and Ming the Merciless at the same time.
The Duke of Sussex was recently spotted with a ‘smart ring’. But as I slid the bulky device on to my finger, I was reminded of the signet sported by the evil galactic warlord in Flash Gordon. In a good way.
My wife took one look at it and said: ‘You look like a teenage goth.’
The Motiv (on sale in Selfridges) doesn’t have a display, but it does have a heart-rate monitor and accelerometer to log your steps and sleep
There’s a grim inevitability about ‘smart rings’. We’ve gone from smart watches, which were once so big they looked like phones gaffer-taped to your wrist, down to bangles. Rings are the next logical frontier.
The Motiv (on sale in Selfridges) doesn’t have a display, but it does have a heart-rate monitor and accelerometer to log your steps and sleep. It’s almost, but not quite, the same size as an actual ring. People other than my wife barely noticed it.
I was expecting it to be terrible (most first-of-their-kind gadgets are), but it’s not bad, with a neatly designed app that auto-records your sleep and exercise, including runs – something a lot of cheaper fitness trackers don’t do.
Even the battery needs a top-up only every couple of days, although the tiny USB charger (which plugs into the socket on your PC) seems alarmingly easy to lose.
It’s definitely less noticeable than a Fitbit. If you’re trying to get fit, but, unusually, don’t want to bore your friends about it, this ring might be just the thing.