Oura on Thursday announced the fourth generation of its popular smart ring. Oura Ring 4 arrives less than three years after the debut of its predecessor. Despite the gap, new wearables significantly improve the experience rather than reinventing it.
The most notable hardware change is the slimmer profile. This is strange for a device that was already a very compact device. The big difference is on the inside of the ring, where the previously raised sensor is recessed to create a more consistent, and hopefully more comfortable, experience.
Like the Oura 3, the new ring is made of titanium. Titanium is a lightweight and durable material, and the weight is comparable to a standard dam ring. Available in a wide range of ring sizes from size 4 to size 15 and six different colors, including a “deeper black look.”
Oura claims that the new ring collects more accurate metrics than previous models, even though the sensor is located further away from the finger. Newer models include an accelerometer for movement. Green, red, and infrared LEDs measure heart rate and breathing rate. and a temperature sensor.
Oura
” [photoplethysmography] The sensors are asymmetrically placed within the Oura Ring 4, providing varying distances and tissue penetration depths for measurements,” the company explains. “Because the vascular structure of the fingers differs from person to person, the different measurement locations around the inner surface of the Oura Ring 4 help achieve the best possible power efficiency and signal quality.”
When creating wearables that are designed to appeal to as many people as possible, we must take into account differences in different fingers, such as differences in skin tone, BMI, and age.
It's also worth noting that this ring still has the ability to measure blood oxygen levels, which is something this device does better than the new Apple Watch. Overall, the system can collect dozens of metrics, including more complex datasets such as cycle tracking, cardiovascular age, and stress levels.
Oura claims the following data has been improved from the third generation ring.
Signal quality for blood oxygen sensing (SpO2) has been improved by 120% and accuracy for average nighttime SpO2 measurements has been improved by 30%. Higher signal fidelity improved Breathing Disorder Index (BDI) accuracy by 15%. Intraday gap decreased by 7%. Heart rate graph Nighttime heart rate graph gap reduced by 31%
One of the great things about this method of passively tracking Smart Ring traffic is that it uses much less battery power. Oura rings have always boasted excellent battery life, which lasts up to 8 days/nights on a single charge. It turns out that the lack of a screen goes a long way in wrapping up the smartwatch on that front.
Android users now have access to Oura Labs, the platform the company uses to test “experimental” features before they're widely available. Currently, the list includes meal tracking. Oura recently acquired metabolic health startup Veri. Veri will ultimately play a role here.
There's also a symptom radar that lets you know when you're starting to get sick. It's effectively a consumer version of a feature the company first rolled out for professional sports leagues during the NBA bubble early in the pandemic.
Oura Labs is also home to Oura Advisor, a new experimentation feature using generative AI. It “works with Oura's health data and expertise to build unique, personalized conversations with members and drive understanding of their health goals and data.”
Oura Ring 4 will be available for pre-order starting Thursday and will begin shipping on October 15th. Users receive a free one-month membership to the software product. After that, it costs $6 per month, or $70 upfront for one year.
The company will also continue to maintain the third generation of Ring until current inventory runs out.