You’ve got a smart wristwatch, so why not a smart ring? Today, New York-based company Omate unveiled the Ungaro Ring, a bauble that pairs with your phone and subtly vibrates to alert you of incoming texts and calls from a specific person.
The Ungaro Ring isn’t the most capable wearable around — it packs Bluetooth LE, a vibrating motor, and a battery that lasts up to five days — and is only somewhat tuneable in that it will only ever notify you of a single contact’s messages and phone calls. But Omate, the brand behind such gorgeous electronic jewelry as the Omate X and Omate Roma, is positioning the Ungaro Ring as a designer item first, smart device second.
It definitely meets the initial criterion: esteemed French fashion label Emanual Ungaro lent its design talent (the ring is said to be inspired by Ungaro’s Diva perfume from 1983), and each ring is manufactured and plated with 18K gold in a fine jewelry factory in Arezzo, Italy. A Fitbit the Ungaro Ring isn’t. Take a look:
The Omate is available in a selection of stones — blue topaz, opalite, onyx, sapphire, and ruby — and in configurations ranging from $500 all the way up to $2,000. It’ll only support iOS when it begins shipping in November, but an Android companion app is scheduled to land in Q1 2016.
For what it can (or rather can’t) do, the Ungaro Ring isn’t the cheapest smart ring on the block. The Ringly ($195 to $260 depending on the model) packs a configurable vibration motor and glowing LED to advise you of notifications. Kovert Designs’ Altruis ($300 to $590) does much the same. But Omate seems content to let the Ungaro Ring stand on its aesthetic merits and pedigree, and that’s probably the right call — to folks regularly springing for designer jewelry, $2,000 is a drop in the bucket.
