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When it comes to health tracking, wearables like smartwatches and fitness bands are usually the way to go.
Believe it or not, a device as small as a ring can now do the same. Enter the itel Smart Ring —- the brand’s first product in this category. Best of all, this tiny fitness tracker comes at a very affordable price.
What exactly is the itel Smart Ring capable of? You’re about to find out in this review.
Table of Contents
The unboxing experience is fairly straightforward.
Our unit came in this sleek black box and as you open the lid, you’ll be greeted by the charging case with the itel Ring inside, and the manual.
No USB-C cable in here, but that’s fine since we can just use a charging cable from any smartphone.
At first glance, the itel Smart Ring looks exactly like a normal ring. Our unit comes in a silver colorway with the exterior made of stainless steel.
From afar, no one would ever think that this is a health tracker.
You only get to realize that it’s a smart device when you take a closer look. The interior section is filled with sensors and there’s even an “itel Ring” branding and the #9 text that indicates the ring size (18.9mm diameter and 59.5mm perimeter).
The small circle that you see here is a magnetic port to connect with the charging case.
If you have smaller or bigger fingers than mine, you have options starting at size #7 up to #12 as indicated in the table below.
The ring fits just right on my index finger, and I must say, it’s comfortable to wear. It’s light, stylish and not as obtrusive.
I also like the fact that the ring has 10ATM water resistance. This means you can go swimming or diving with it, and it’ll still work just fine. However, do be careful as the the ring can get scratched easily.
Now, let’s talk about the core function of the itel Ring —- health tracking. The ring comes with a dedicated app of the same name, where you can access the health tracking features. The ring can be linked to the app over a Bluetooth connection by the way.
For a fitness tracker of this size, it’s surprising how many health monitoring features it offers.
Automatic Health Monitoring
For starters, it has a passive health tracking feature that automatically scans the user’s heart rate and blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) every hour or two. We also have the option to manually scan health vitals in-app.
The ring also tracks daily user activity such as the number of steps and mileage, as well as estimated calories burned.
The ring automatically tracks the user’s sleeping cycles too, which I really found useful during my use of the itel Smart Ring. Under the ‘Sleep management’ tab, it shows my sleep stages as to how many times I went from light sleep to deep sleep and REM state (rapid eye movement).
I have a bit of doubt about its accuracy, but it got the total number of hours I slept correct most of the time.
What’s even more useful to me is the range of ambient music available in-app. There’s a lot to choose from and my favorites so far are “Wave” and “Firewood”.
Playing these through my wireless earbuds with noise cancellation helped me relax and get to sleep faster.
Active exercises
Aside from passive health tracking, the itel Ring can actively record exercise data as well. There are three options available: running, walking, and cycling.
So far, I have only tried walking, and the ring can record data such as average pace, step frequency, calories burned, and the duration of the exercise.
Physical Recovery Reports
After the itel Smart Ring had gathered enough health data across all areas, the app will generate a “physical recovery report” on a daily basis. This report shows an overview of the user’s health data for the day and will make some suggestions on how to improve your health.
It will also make commendations, saying “You are in good shape today,” assuming the user get enough sleep and exercise.
It’s not all fine and dandy. During my use, I’ve encountered a couple of issues, such as frequent app crashes and trouble charging the ring with the case.
When I’m actively walking and the exercise tracking is enabled, I have to keep my phone’s screen on and stay within the app. For some reason, when I try to switch to another app and return to the itel Ring app, it relaunches, and my progress sadly disappears.
This happens even after I’ve disabled certain battery restrictions in the settings to ensure the app runs properly. For transparency, I am using a phone equipped with a flagship chipset (Snapdragon 8 Gen 2), so it can’t be the phone’s fault for these app crashes.
Worth noting is the visual bug that I found in the app. When you try to enable an exercise, there is a map icon you can tap that’s supposed to show route mapping. At first, I was really excited to try this out, assuming the ring had GPS, but the app never loaded the map.
Turns out, it was an actual visual bug since the itel Smart Ring (at least in this first iteration) doesn’t come with a GPS. The existence of such feature in-app must mean that future itel Ring versions will come with GPS.
Otherwise, it could be more than just a visual bug. The app literally asked to gain location access from my phone. So, the app can just use my phone’s location info to integrate it in-app. If that is the case, then that is something itel should give a fix soon.
The next issue I encountered was charging the ring with its case. For some reason, the charging case doesn’t recognize the ring, no matter how many times I flip it.
Fortunately, I found an accidental fix for charging the ring (which you can watch below). What I did was lift the ring slightly while it was attached to the charging thimble, and voila! The itel Ring started charging.
This could just be a manufacturing defect or an isolated case, so don’t take this too seriously. Besides, I haven’t found anyone online who has experienced the same issue.
On the bright side, I don’t have to charge the itel Smart Ring as often. Based on my actual experience (I kid you not), the ring lasted over six days on a single charge. That runtime included my late-night walks and the time I wore it to sleep.
If we count the charging case, it provides an additional 54 days of battery life (at least, according to what itel advertised). I haven’t tested whether that’s true, but as for the ring itself, the battery life is solid.
The itel Smart Ring proves that great things really do come in small packages. For just PHP 1,299USD 22INR 1,926EUR 21CNY 162, it delivers a solid mix of health tracking features that usually come with larger, more expensive smartwatches.
The ring’s design is sleek and stylish, while its water resistance and comfortable fit make it wearable all day (and night).
Though it faced some software and charging hiccups, they don’t overshadow the strong points, like the impressive battery life and ability to monitor important health vitals from your heart rate to your sleep cycles.
I am hopeful that the brand will make further improvements moving forward. This is their first smart ring after all. The wearable is great as it is, and it works as intended. However, its dedicated app needs attention not just in terms of functionalities and optimizations but also its overall design.
Below are a few things I think itel needs to work on for the itel Ring app:
It’s not without its flaws, but for the price [Lazada 10, Shopee 10], this tiny fitness tracker punches well above its weight. If you’re in the market for an affordable, discreet, and functional health tracker, the itel Smart Ring checks all the boxes as your next health companion.
What we liked:
What we didn’t like:
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Pierre Gagne says:
Prix et disponibilité ?