- This video is sponsored by Qualcomm.
(electronic music)
If you ever doubt that we're living in the future,
look no further than the spread of smart rings.
For years, I've been wearing my public transit pass
on my finger thanks to my Sesame Ring
and for almost as long, I've been tracking my health
on another finger using Motiv.
The next logical step?
Using your finger to make phone calls.
This is the ORII smart ring from Origami Labs.
Now, I've teased this ring a little bit
in videos over the past few weeks
and it's been noticed a lot because it's big.
There's no getting around that.
In fact, if you strictly compare it
to most other smart rings, it's a behemoth.
But I think it's more accurate to think of it
as a middle ground between a smart ring and a smart watch.
Once you charge it and use the included tool kit
to attach the right sized ring,
the companion app teaches you how to use it.
You push the button on ORII, raise it to your ear,
and you can make a phone call or dictate a message
or talk to your digital assistant
all while your phone stays in your pocket.
Now, there's not a speaker here, per se.
ORII instead works on a technology
you're probably heard of called bone conduction,
which does just what it says.
Instead of using a speaker,
there's a small actuator inside the ring
that vibrates the casing.
Put it in contact with the bones of your skull
and you can hear the sound inside your head.
When it works as designed, it lets you hear a caller
or Google Assistant or Siri even in a loud place
without disturbing anyone around you.
That's a really compelling pitch
and it's why ORII has stuck in the headlines
since it was first unveiled nearly two years ago.
But after a few weeks living with it
and as much as I appreciate the personalized review device,
I don't think it'll be staying on my finger.
My biggest issue is that getting ORII to work properly
means you need to hold your hand
in a very specific position.
To its credit, Origami Labs acknowledges this.
It makes a big point of educating users
about hand placement right in the app
and you do eventually figure it out.
But in my case, the act of closing off my ear canal
while pushing up against my jaw
just isn't very comfortable for long conversations.
The sound quality also isn't as clear
as you'll get from an ear bud.
It's mushy and heavy on the bass,
with the occasional crackle.
On the other end, callers said I sounded okay
but with more background noise than usual.
And in the small stuff, the buttons you use
to activate the ring are pretty tough to press
and on my review sample,
one of the screws that holds the band on
became stripped almost right out of the box.
In fact, by the end of my review period,
I had lost the screw completely.
When the core functionality of a product
is this big a compromise,
I have a hard time enjoying its other uses,
even though those are great.
The ring taps your finger
with a haptic buzz when you get a notification
and it flashes different color LED's for different alerts.
It's got a battery that lasts
up to an hour of continuous audio, a splashproof casing,
and a fiddle-free charging dock, micro USB connector aside.
Also worth a mention, the original concept behind ORII
was to give people with hearing impairments
another option for communications.
So, it's definitely a great idea
that deserves a chance to evolve.
But for the mainstream audience,
particularly those who wear some form of
wireless headphones that do the same thing,
I just don't think ORII's current form
is worth its asking price.
Now, Origami Labs has said that
it knows how to reduce the casing size
by 10 to 15%, which would be nice,
and if it could also figure out a way
to enable a wider range of finger positions,
the ORII ring would become a lot more compelling.
The good news?
The company told me that it will continue to explore
innovative, screen-free products in the mobile space,
possibly in a different form factor.
So, I'll look forward to seeing
what else Origami Labs can come up with.
This video is sponsored by Qualcomm,
whose new 3D sonic sensor promises to make
unlocking your phone a lot easier.
Like some other fingerprint scanners,
it lives under your screen.
But this one uses sound waves
to scan the pores of your finger.
That means it should be less affected
by contaminants on the screen
and it's designed to be harder to fool as well.
This sensor is super thin, less than .2 millimeters,
so it'll fit in the sleek smartphones of 2019 no problem
and it won't cause image burn
on those new flexible OLED displays.
Unlike optical sensors, it needs
no additional brightness to work.
Check this tech in action on the new Samsung Galaxy S10,
powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 mobile platform.
Some other wearable tech up
on the screen for you now, folks,
and if you want to see me cover another smart ring
or another piece of wearable tech,
I am always down for that.
Drop a comment below after you subscribe
the the MrMobile on YouTube.
Let me know what it is.
Until next time, thanks for watching
and stay mobile, my friends.
(electronic music)