TUESDAY, MARCH 30TH, 2020 | 14:45
Ed Thomas, UK
ArcX’s World-First Sports and Fitness Smart Ring now on sale, boasts an emergency call & message feature with google maps pin.
The ArcX is the first smart ring explicitly designed for sports & fitness and boasts some brilliant smart-tech features.
The most noticeable, for sports enthusiasts, is the SOS Call and SMS feature, which is more subtle than pulling out a phone or taping a watch, requiring just a 5 second hold down on the central button of the ring.
The ring will then call your local emergency services through your phone, as well as sending an SMS with a pin, using Google Maps, of your location to a pre-selected contact.
Wearable Tech users I spoke to, thought that ‘it’s probably a good idea in general to have’ this feature in their smart devices; some felt it was essential to them. Others told me that their smart-watches didn’t even have an SOS feature; which they felt wasn’t helpful, though their phones did. Others told me they discovered the feature on their Apple Watch, once I asked the question, and that although it was quick to activate, and although it was more discreet than their iPhone, it wasn’t as discreet as a ring.
However, the ring, wasn’t that attractive from a design perspective for many of them: one said ‘They look weird’; another thought it was a braclet at first – thinking it was too big for their wrist, then said – it was “even worse” as a ring.
The UK based company behind the product may find a much broader audience in the weeks and months ahead, in light of the Sarah Everard case.
Though as the product has only been on sale in the past week, it has been difficult for them to know if it has been affected by the Sarah Everard events, they sent me this statement:
“We have only just launched our products for sale in the past week, and therefore, it’s difficult to tell if any sales are directly attributable to the SOS feature and in light of recent, tragic events here in the UK. Further to this, about 55% of our sales are from outside the UK, so again it’s hard to make any correlation.”
Paul Blair, ArcX Founder, via e-mail.
The ring was first launched on Kickstarter and then unveiled at CES and digital ISPO 2021.
It retails at around £79, but Kickstarter pledges allows you to get the ring for £49 for a limited time; this is around the average price for smart-rings, but wearable tech with all these features usually retails at more than £100.
Most smart rings are designed for making contactless payments.
Other joys of the ArcX ring include its ability to control the music on your smartphone, claiming to be compatible with all the major music apps, as well as on Bluetooth speakers, tested at 100 meters away.
As it is designed for sports and fitness, it can also control the stopwatch, accept incoming calls and works in strong winds or when the user is unable to talk.
For bikers and those who wear gloves, the ring is easy to use and works when travelling at speed, even when your hands are preoccupied, such as in the case of cycling.
The ring might appeal on many levels, but with one potential wearable tech enthusiast saying: “They are hella ugly. No offence.” It may be the design that lets this piece of smart wearable technology down in the long run.
Original Story Source: EIN Press Wire