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The Oura Ring 4 is official and comes at a time when Oura is no longer the only smart ring player on the scene.
Despite growing competition, Oura’s Ring Gen 3 has managed to stave off the competition and remain a standout smart ring. So how does the Oura Ring 4 become the ultimate ring to put on your finger and what’s new from Gen 3?
I’ll break down the key differences between the new Oura Ring 4 and the Gen 3 and tell you about one thing they have in common: that will help you decide if you should rush to make that upgrade when it goes on sale soon .
Completely titanium and available in more sizes
The Oura Ring 4 is still a titanium-based smart ring like Gen 3, but now there’s more of it, with the inside now wrapped in the high-quality but pleasantly light metal instead of the plastic used on the Gen 3.
The new model is also lighter: 3.3-5.2 grams depending on size, compared to 4-6 grams.
It is available in more sizes. You can pick up the Ring 4 in US sizes 4-15 compared to 6-13, so that means you get both larger and smaller size options to make the Ring 4 better suited to more finger sizes.
There is also still a sizing kit included and the sizing for Gen 3 doesn’t necessarily match the Ring 4 and I’ll explain below why that might be the case.
The black Oura Ring 4 is now darker and cooler
Like Gen 3, Oura offers the Ring 4 in six different colors. There is gold, rose gold, brushed silver, stealth, silver and black.
The black Oura Ring 4 now uses a tungsten carbide PVD coating, as opposed to the diamond-like carbon coating on the Gen 3 version. That should give the whole thing a darker look and also make it a more durable ring to wear.
New sensors are more discreet
While both Oura rings promise to deliver similar metrics and insights, the Ring 4 does so from an improved sensor platform that now better matches the interior of the ring to provide a more comfortable and less intrusive fit (as you can see above) .
This is a big reason why the sizing for Gen 3 doesn’t necessarily match the Ring 4.
The new setup that Oura calls ‘Smart Sensing’ consists of similar sensors in Gen 3. There are red, green and infrared LEDs for capturing information such as blood oxygen levels and heart rate. That’s joined by a digital temperature sensor and an accelerometer motion sensor to track movement and activity.
However, there are two big changes here. The first is that these sensors now have more signal paths (18 instead of eight) to help capture more accurate data.
There is also a new algorithm to optimize monitoring for different skin tones, BMI, finger shape and anatomy. It can also be taken into account when the ring rotates on your finger, to ensure that you still receive good data as the ring moves on your finger.
A boost for battery life
That new smart sensing platform also has a positive impact on the battery life of the Ring 4 compared to Gen 3.
Now that the Ring 4 has the ability to dynamically adjust the brightness of the LEDs used to track your biometric data, it frees up resources to power other features like battery life, which lasts up to 8 days. Gen 3 promised up to 7 days, so that’s an extra day of tracking in theory.
Although in our testing with the previous Oura we found battery life was typically closer to 3-4 days. So that could mean you get more than 4-5 days on the Ring 4, but hopefully it can reach the advertised amount.
Both will get the new, redesigned app
The other good news is that you get access to Oura’s revamped companion app, where the number of tabs to navigate has been simplified and a new Vitals section has been included for a snapshot of your key stats.
There’s also access to new features like automatic heart rate detection and heart rate zones for training with Oura, new daytime stress insights, and improved women’s health features with new pregnancy and cycle insights now added.
Android users now join iOS users in access to Oura Labs, the section in the app where you can find Oura’s experimental features, such as the AI-powered Advisor it tested and new experimental features such as the ability to add meals to keep.
When can you buy one?
The price of the Oura Ring 4 starts from £349/$349 and like its predecessor, requires an Oura membership of £5.99/$5.99 per month or £69.99 $69.99 annual Oura membership to unlock all features and insights.
You can pre-order the Ring 4 now ahead of its October 15 release date.
For context, the launch price of the Oura Ring Gen 3 was £299/$299 and also requires the same priced membership for the full Oura experience. That means the starting price for the Ring 4 is £50/$50 more than its predecessor, but is still cheaper than rival rings like the £399/$399 Samsung Galaxy Ring, although there’s no subscription element to that.
Oura says the arrival of the Ring 4 doesn’t mean the Gen 3 will simply disappear and will remain on sale until supplies run out. That’s good news if you think the new Oura is a bit too expensive for you.