Move Over, Smart Watches! Here Comes the Smart Ring

MOTA’s SmartRing delivers smartphone - like alerts of new text messages, emails, incoming calls and calendar events right to your finger—making it the new notifications hub.

After smart watches and smart bracelets, now it’s time for smart rings. The Silicon Valley-based technology firm MOTA, known for its innovative wearable and consumer electronics products, announced plans to unveil a new device called SmartRing at the IFA Consumer Electronics Show in Berlin, going on through September 10.

SmartRing is a finger-worn device that notifies users about calls, texts, emails and social media updates with vibrations. It reduces the time spent retrieving phones from pockets or bags to check the never-ending stream of calls and updates—letting you put away your smart phone, yet stay connected with the rest of the world.

The SmartRing is compatible with both Android and iOS devices and pairs to smart phones via Bluetooth. It fetches notifications from Facebook and Twitter and delivers them as text, audio or tactile alerts—with plans to add more applications such as LinkedIn, Instagram and Uber.

MOTA’s SmartRing even offers customization options to let users select the types of notifications they want to receive and also create a “VIP” list of contacts whose updates they want immediate notification for. “Notification of incoming calls, texts and app information has become the single most important function of a mobile phone…but it's also become a major thorn in the side of the mobile user. The types and sources of notifications are proliferating rapidly,” said Kevin Faro, Co-Founder of MOTA. “Increasingly many are being presented as urgent. Users tell us they continually have to delve into different apps on their phones and are becoming swamped trying to keep up. The MOTA SmartRing gives wearers a super easy and very natural way to see who’s trying to reach them anytime, anywhere.”

The ring is water resistant, compact and light. The display screen is vibrant and can be seen even in bright light conditions such as outdoor settings. SmartRing comes in two stylish models—“midnight black” and “pearl white.” While not the first attempt at a smart ring device, the fact that it’s being produced by an established wearable technology manufacturer might make a difference—potentially helping SmartRing be the first to hit the markets. Faro has a big vision for what Moto’s new product can do:

Last year, there were at least three finger-wear interface concepts promoted on crowdfunding sites. Smarty Ring, which has features similar to that of SmartRing, raised nearly $300,000 on Indiegogo. Logbar’s Ring, a finger-worn input device that promises the capability to send texts, control home appliances and even pay utility bills, raised more than $880,000 on KickStarter. Arcus Motion Analyzer is another activity-tracking ring seeking crowdfunding on KickStarter.

MOTA has not yet announced the pricing details of the SmartRing but hopes to make the product available for shipping by the end of this year in the U.S. and Canada. If this product proves to be successful, then smart watches and bracelets may have to move over and make room for smart rings in the wearable tech space.