Vring smart ring thinks it's good to talk

Connected accessory lands on Kickstarter, promising to make voice controls easier
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Vring describes itself as the first wearable to focus on voice-control - which may be a bit of a stretch - but it's definitely its raison d'être.

The smart accessory, which is intended to be either a (massive) ring or a bracelet, connects to your smartphone and offers you easy, according to the promo video at least, voice controls whereby short commands such as "lights" or "my music" fires up the relevant app on your phone - i.e. turning a Philips Hue lamp on, or playing your stored MP3s.

Read this: The best smart jewellery

Voice gestures are extended to Google searches, Chromecast controls, note taking, smart appliance connectivity and a find-my-phone feature.

"The average person spends 90 minutes on their cell phone every day," said Canner Tang, founder of Whynot Tech - the company behind Vring. "We developed Vring to give people more freedom to experience life and spend time with family and friends.

"Our goal is to make life easier, and homes smarter by using the latest advancements in voice-recognition technology."

That's a bit of a wishy-washy marketing statement, we know - and we're not sure that Vring will actually make people spend less time on their phones. Surely if users do a Google search, or take a note, they'll end up looking at the results on their phone?

Related: Kerv NFC smart ring wants to free your contactless payments

In terms of design, it's fairly chunky, if somewhat geek-chic. The aluminum unibody frame comes in three different colours and there are slick looking metallic straps for the bracelet option.

The battery can take 300 commands before it needs a charge and will last up to three days on standby.

Whynot Tech is looking for $50,000 on Kickstarter - $109 is the early bird price if you're interested.


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Paul Lamkin

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Wareable Media Group co-CEO Paul launched Wareable with James Stables in 2014, after working for a variety of the UK's biggest and best consumer tech publications including Pocket-lint, Forbes, Electric Pig, Tech Digest, What Laptop, T3 and has been a judge for the TechRadar Awards. 

Prior to founding Wareable, and subsequently The Ambient, he was the senior editor of MSN Tech and has written for a range of publications.


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