Motiv Ring: A stylish smart ring for fitness trackers

Dubai: Motiv Ring is a smart wearable in the form of a ring with a basic level of fitness tracking features compared to its smartwatch and smart band rivals.

But it does an impressive job as a fitness tracker, steps and distance, heart rate, activity, calories burnt and sleep monitoring.

Hats off to the company for inserting all of the technology required into a small form factor.

When making a decision to buy the ring, the company sends a sizing kit with a choice of seven different dumb rings to suit yours.

After finding the exact size you can order the Motiv Ring. It is made from matt titanium. It is sturdy without being weighty. The rings have a size of 8 x 2.5mm but it is a bit chunky and you will feel a little uncomfortable in the beginning. You will get used to it within a day or two. There are two colours — slate grey and rose gold. I got slate grey for review.

First, you need to download the Motiv app (see the image below) from Android or Google play stores and pair the device. Once done, you will get a unique code with your sizing kit and enter the number and the size into the app and also your weight and height.

The ring is relatively plain with a single stripe of a darker grey with a little LED light. When the ring syncs with the phone via Bluetooth, a blue light lights up and when charging it is red and turns to green when completely charged.

Inside the ring, there is a flat surface which houses a tiny optical heart-rate monitor sensor, three-axis accelerometer and two magnetic strips that hold the ring onto the charger.

For charging the device, there is a tiny USB cradle with the magnetic charging pad. The box also contains a charging cradle with keychain.

It is shaped flat to make better contact with your skin. It is water-resistant up to 50 metres.

The app is neat and simple and at the top, you get the time slept, heart rate and steps taken. Below that, it shows the active minutes of your day, miles covered and calories burnt. Below that, there is a card-based interface to show your time slept and resting heart rate overnight. Sometimes, rather than adjusting the active minutes automatically, the app will ask you to confirm whether you were active during these periods.

The downside is that the heart rate monitor has to be on the underside of your finger, but it has a tendency to move away which could impact its accuracy.

Compared to a smartwatch, there is no option for reminders to inform you that you haven’t moved or it is time to take a walk.

Users can manually sync the device with the smartphone by rotating the ring a few times till you see a blue LED flashing.

The sleep tracking is very basic and it shows the total duration of your sleep, including restful and restless but not REM (rapid eye movement), light and deep sleep.

However, there is no GPS built in and so you will not get detailed stats when running or walking such as pace or cadence. The quantity of the data is insufficient for true fitness enthusiasts.

It is good for people who do not like to wear a smartwatch 24/7 and for people who do prefer to wear a normal analogue watch. It is really much more convenient than wearing a smartwatch.

The battery lasts for three days as advertised. Charging the device from zero to full will take around 90 minutes. It is available at Sharaf DG and priced at Dh739.