Circular Slim Light: Stripped-down smart ring, stripped-down price
Circular has introduced the Slim Light, a slightly stripped-back iteration of its smart ring. The French-based outfit initially made waves on Kickstarter with its Circular Ring, released back in 2020. They’ve since followed that up with an updated version – the Circular Ring Slim – a significantly streamlined wearable aiming to provide comprehensive health tracking in a remarkably discreet form factor.
At a mere 2.2 mm thin and 2 grams, the Circular Ring Slim focuses on minimal presence. It boasts advanced sensors, including a PPG and a three-axis accelerometer, to monitor a wide range of health metrics. This includes daytime activity, heart rate, sleep patterns, and even temperature fluctuations – data that feeds into Circular’s AI wellness assistant, Kira+.
Mixed reviews and accuracy concerns
The Circular Ring Slim promises to offer insights into wearers’ overall health and wellness patterns. However, the company’s initial Kickstarter campaign for the original Circular Ring faced delays, hinting at potential challenges the slimmed-down version may need to overcome.
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Early reviews of the new smart ring have been mixed. While the device is definitely slimmer and aesthetically superior to its predecessor, there seem to be issues with sensor accuracy and the syncing process. Hopefully, these will be ironed out via software updates in the weeks and months to come.
Vibration: A unique and useful feature
Unlike most smart rings on the market, the Circular Ring Slim incorporates a vibration feature. This adds a new dimension to how users interact with the device, providing haptic navigation and customizable alerts. The original device also has the vibration feature, but the 2nd generation vibrates more noticeably. The engineering challenge of integrating a vibration motor into such a small form factor is significant, likely explaining its scarcity in other smart ring offerings.
You can get vibration alerts when your heart rate and blood oxygen are out of whack, or the ring can wake you up with vibrations during your lightest sleep stage – ideal if you don’t want to disturb your partner. The feature certainly has its uses.
Circular Ring Slim Light: Less features, less cost
Now, the company is offering a stripped-back version of its product. The Circular Slim Light comes with all the features of its big brother, except for the vibration feature. The design and all other components remain the same.
Why would you want to purchase something with fewer features? Because of the price. This edition retails for around 200 euros on the company’s website, a 60 euro discount compared to the full version. The other benefit could be battery savings. Circular advertises a six day battery life for the Circular Ring Slim, but reports suggest the device struggles to live up to these claims. The vibration motor may be one of the more battery-intensive features.
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