Oura Ring 4: What's New, and What I Liked and Don't Like So Far
I've been wearing the new or ring for and I'm going to tell you what's new, what I like about it so far and what I don't like with the or ring for or health tracker gets a new look and I'm not just talking about the ring itself. The app is getting a make over to but more on that later. If you're not familiar the or ring is a smart ring that can measure activity, sleep and a bunch of bodily metrics such as your heart rate, your skin temperature, blood oxygen levels, respiratory rate and more. It's compatible with the iphone and Android and you can manage the ring and view your health statistics through the accompanying the ordering for starts at 349. And compared to the previous generation ring comes with the sleeker design, slightly longer battery life and better accuracy all told the or for essentially does the same thing as the H RJ three. Here's a closer look at what's new. If you've used an A ring before you'll notice that the new version has a smoother interior without those raised domes or has managed to flatten out the areas where the sensors are, which gives the ring a more sleek fit. I really noticed this the most when I'm sliding the ring on and off my finger, the ring is also made entirely of Titanium this time around. Unlike the A RJ three, which only had Titanium on the outside, it comes in similar colors as the A RJ three horizon. But the black version I've been wearing has a new glossy finish. But the biggest thing that's new about the order for is that it should be more accurate. The ring now has a new algorithm that can tailor readings based on an individual's finger, in fact, or as it has twice as many signal pathways, which means it should be able to pick up more data than the gen three or also claims the battery life should last slightly longer up to eight days instead of seven on the previous version. One of my favorite things about the isn't so much the ring itself but the app that goes with it, the app is now organized into three tabs. The Today tab as the name implies, shows your most relevant information for right now. The vitals tab lets you dive into your health scores and your health metrics. While the my health tab shows your long term health trends. One reason why I like the or and so much is because that today t is really useful I feel like or health metrics are a bit more personalized and more proactive compared to some of the dashboard you see in Fitbit Apple and Samsung Health, for example, while you can edit those dashboards and kind of customize them to your liking, I do really like that, that today t shows what it thinks. I want to see when I want to see it the way it positions its health readings and statistics is kind of more in observation than just throwing data at you. For example, when I open the today t during the work day, I see my activity goal and I see how stressed I am and the way those observations are framed it feels like is encouraging me to be more active or maybe telling me to prioritize relaxing and not stressing. And I find that really useful and more actionable than just scrolling through a feed of stats. Another thing I really like about the ordering is an experimental feature called symptom radar. Now, this is a feature that you have to opt into, it's not available right out of the gate, but you can try it if you want. And what this basically does is it monitors your body for signs of, of changes in your metrics that can maybe suggest that you might be or just feeling a little run down. And I actually happened to catch a little bug as I've been testing the ordering. And sure enough when I wore the ordering to sleep the next morning, it showed that my body temperature was a little bit elevated and it told me to rest. So again, this is not a diagnostic tool. This is not something that you should read into and have it tell you that you're sick. But what I like about this is that if I am feeling off something like symptom radar and even just the readiness score kind of gives you that extra level of reassurance that, hey, maybe I should take it easy today. Maybe it's not my imagination. Maybe I really am coming down with something and I should prioritize ring again. Other wearables are doing a lot of things like this. Apple, for example, just launched the Vitals app as part of watch 11. It will measure certain metrics overnight and tell you if they're out of whack my Apple watch also picked up on the same thing when I was by the way, but or kind of did this first. So it's nice to see that influence kind of spreading to their wearables. But my biggest complaints about the A R is that $6 monthly subscription at 349 I feel like you should get more out of the box of the or without having to pay extra. If you don't pay for that subscription, you get your basic scores for activity, sleep and readiness, but you don't really get anything else. And since other wearables makers like Samsung and Apple provide even more out of the box without a subscription. I do wish you got a little bit extra with the order. Even though the A R can last longer than most smart watches on a single charge. I've only been getting about six days of battery life out of it so far, which is shorter than a eight day claim. I was also kind of hoping that there would be some more new health features with the ring at launch. It's great that or tends to update the ring over time with new features. But I was really hoping to see something that was tied to the new hardware right away. Even though the or Rings auto workout detection works really well for walking. It doesn't always automatically pick up my morning cycling work out, which is kind of a bummer because that's the workout I tend to do the most. But overall the or is still one of my favorite health trackers and the ordering for a new design makes it even more inconspicuous and comfortable to wear. But since the functionality is largely the same as the ordering gen three, I'd mostly recommend this for first time or buyers that are curious about trying a smart ring. Don't forget to check out my full written review on CNET for more details about the aura ring, including what it's like to work out with it and more details on sleep tracking. So what do you think of the aura ring for? Let me know in the comments and again, keep following cnet for more wearables coverage. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.