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ZDNET Highlights
- i wore ora ring 5 For one day.
- It’s more comfortable and smaller on my finger.
- Sometimes the best upgrades are the ones you can’t see.
When you have a thick smart ring around your finger, size matters. Ora unveils her super-slim ora ring 5 at the end of May, and it’s markedly smaller and lighter than the Ora Ring 4, the smart ring the company unveiled two years ago.
Also: Oura Ring 5 vs. Oura Ring 4: I compared smart rings for health tracking – and it’s very close
The Ora Ring 5 not only comes with a 40% smaller, thinner design. Ora also adds an extra day of battery to the ring for maximum wear. To accomplish this, Aura had to completely redesign its smart ring, replace the battery, refine the algorithms, and install more powerful LEDs for health tracking.
This is the biggest update of the Oura across all generations, as most of the software that comes on the Oura Ring 5 is also available on the Oura Ring 4.
I’ve been using the Ring since day one, and my favorite part about the health tracker is, surprisingly, its small size.
much more comfortable
Ora Ring 4 on the left and Ora Ring 5 on the right.
Nina Raymont/ZDNET
Ironically, the most noticeable difference between wearing the Aura Ring 5 and the Aura Ring 4 is how much less I notice the Aura Ring 5 around my finger. The miniaturization of the Ora’s fifth-generation ring makes it much more comfortable to perform simple tasks, like holding a heavy object or making the Girl Scout hand sign (sticking your index, middle, and ring fingers together without a gap).
Also: I replaced my Apple Watch with the Aura Ring 4 for sleep tracking (and it did some things better)
While wearing the Ora Ring 4, I was never able to fully squeeze my fingers together until there was a small gap left between them at the edge of the ring. This wasn’t a big problem with the Ora Ring 4 – in fact, most people would say that the fourth-generation Ring’s declining battery life over time was a much bigger issue. However, it was so minor as to be bothersome, especially since I wear the ring almost 24/7.
Ora Ring 5 in hand. I can press my fingers together easily. The ring is not thick enough to create a sufficient gap.
Nina Raymont/ZDNET
The Oura Ring 4 is so thick that your fingers can’t fit together easily. A gap appears between my ring finger and middle finger.
Nina Raymont/ZDNET
This issue has almost disappeared with the Ora Ring 5. The ring takes up a small amount of space when I squeeze my fingers together, and the ring’s small size helps it blend in with other true analog accessories. It looks – and I can’t emphasize this enough – like the jewelry I wear every day.
Also: The best smart rings you can buy
In fact, when I compared the Ora Ring 5 to ZDNET’s Kerry Vann’s wedding band, I found that both rings are practically the same thickness and width. It might not seem like a big deal, but it’s a huge advancement in sensor technology, batteries, and hardware — and it’s the first mainstream example of wearable tech becoming even more comfortable and, as the name suggests, wearable.
Excited for the future of Ora
Yes, the Ora Ring 5 makes me excited for the future of Ora, but the latest smart ring also makes me excited for all the little pieces of technology that will be just as capable as – if not more than – the Ora Ring 5, now that we know these devices don’t need to be bulky and heavy to work.
Too: The best early Prime Day smartwatch and smart ring deals I’d recommend
Since I only wore the ring for a day, I can’t guarantee its extended battery life. However, I’ll update this review with that information in a week once I’ve tested those battery claims. The same goes for most of the software updates coming via the Ora Ring 5, including health radar, live activity tracking, blood pressure signals, and more.
