Categories
Fitness Wearables

Arcus is the one fitness ring to rule them all

The Premise. Many fitness-centric devices allow people to track their progress as they exercise. Most are worn on the wrist or arm and give information about time elapsed as well as distance travelled. For feedback on actual technique, most athletes resort to a coach.

The Product. Arcus is a motion analyzer that you wear as a ring. It provides feedback to you via its app about the activity or sport you are engaging in down to information on your tennis stroke or golf swing, for example. Other information provided by Arcus include stroke strength, speed, average accuracy, average time, distances travelled, impact, and the list goes on. There are no real limitations to the kinds of feedback or sport that Arcus is compatible with. This ring charges wirelessly and also comes with a magnetic sphere. The ring-wearer can roll this sphere around, allowing it to properly calibrate and gather information about the environment, making its data more reliable. In addition, wearing it on one’s finger instead of wrist provides more accurate motion information. As an added bonus, this smart little ring also allows lets the wearer control any Bluetooth Smart Ready device in the vicinity. The ring comes in many different colors, patterns and finishes and is also completely waterproof.

The Pitch. The Arcus video cuts right to the chase and explains how the ring works along with how many uses it has. For the remainder of the campaign, the Hungarian creators show examples of Arcus at work along with screenshots of the app. It also goes through the huge number of color options for the ring, testimonials, tech information, product comparisons and the prototyping process. The Kickstarter campaign has a huge $320,000 goal in its 35-day run. 

The Perks. Donation levels for one Arcus plus charger and app range from $149 – $230 based on color and finish. Higher tiers offer multi-packs at heavily discounted rates. Reward tiers climb up to $2,500 and all rings are expected to ship by February 2015. 

The Potential. We’ve seen a slew of smart jewelry on the market recently. The Ringly alerts wearers to calls and texts coming through to their phone. For fitness, the ever-popular FitBit tracks fitness performance with an app, similar to Arcus, along with sleep activity and food intake. The WonderRing tracks heart rate, temperature and sports performance and also allows the wearer to control surrounding electronics. While all of these wearables are certainly very cool, Arcus is the only one that actually provides feedback on technique. The fact that it can help an athlete improve upon their game is invaluable. In addition, its capabilities in working with Bluetooth Smart Ready devices make it especially unique. All in all, for the price and wide range of uses, it is clear that Arcus is the next big thing in smart wearable jewelry. 

Categories
Smartwatches/Bands

Ringly is the discreet notification accessory many women have waited for

editors-choiceThe Premise. As a culture, we’ve all seen the negatives of hunching over our smartphones all the time. We’ve realized that it’s nice to live in the moment, but work, kids, friends and other obligations keep us checking our phones constantly.

The Product. Ringly is a smart, stylish ring that connects to your smartphone. With five different vibration patterns and discrete colored lights on either side, it lets you know if you’re receiving a call, text, e-mail, tweet, any Facebook notification or event that you have in your calendar. The vibrations, colors and contacts who are important enough to reach the ring are all completely customizable from Ringly’s Android/iOS friendly app. It also comes in four different colors with fancy names, but to the layman they’re known as purple, light blue, green and black. In terms of materials, the ring is fashioned from 18K matte gold three micron plating and semi-precious stones.

The Pitch. Foregoing a typical Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign, Ringly is running its pre-order special directly from its own website. The site goes through the product’s different capabilities and shows the various color options available. In addition, it shows on which sites this vibrating ring has already been featured including Elle and Brit + Co.

The Perks. The site offers Ringly for 25% off of retail price at $145 for the black, purple and light blue versions and $180 for the green option. Shipping begins in Fall 2014 and currently Ringly only offers sizes 6, 7, and 8.

The Potential. Ringly is a great solution for business women, moms and students alike. Its ease of use and customizability make it one of the more competitive pieces of smart-apparel that we’ve seen lately. MEMI is a stylish, smart bracelet that functions much like Ringly, but is much bulkier in size making it slightly less convenient. Ringly, while maybe not everyone’s taste, is certainly stylish enough for younger busy bees. If its alert lights aren’t too garish and distracting, Ringly will be one of the coolest ways to keep in touch with one’s responsibilities while still enjoying life in the moment.