After the emergence and overwhelming success of smartphones, the technology industry began to add… intelligence to other objects of daily use by modern man, mainly the objects he carries with him or the objects he uses. Watches were the first item of this type, with smart models flooding the market for several years with ever-increasing capabilities. Smart glasses of various types have also emerged in recent years.
About a decade ago, the first smart accessories such as bracelets, necklaces and rings with different possibilities appeared and did not arouse the interest of the market and the creation of such objects was left aside.
But a few months ago, several companies, including tech industry giants like Samsung announced that they will immediately launch smart rings on the market that in their first versions will record personal and mainly medical data. In fact, such rings have been launched, some of which incorporate technologies artificial intelligence and their prices are around 450-550 euros. There is information that Litter is preparing to launch its own smart ring.
The British company MuchBetter wants to revolutionise this sector by introducing a ring with which its owner can make payments and financial transactions in general. According to its creators, this ring has no battery and does not need to be charged, functioning continuously as a means of payment so that its owner does not need to carry cash, a bank card or a mobile phone to make a transaction.
Technology, benefits and security
The ring is made up of a black ceramic material covering a chip and antenna that facilitates contactless payments. When held near a point-of-sale (POS) machine, a token allows information to be transmitted to the POS to initiate the transaction that occurs through an app linked to the holder’s bank account.
Obviously, for security reasons, it would be a good idea for the owner of the ring to choose not to link the ring to his payroll or savings account, but to someone he uses exclusively to use the ring to deposit the necessary funds for the transactions he intends to make.
It should be noted that the company currently offers the ring free of charge to consumers and only charges for downloading the application, which costs around seven euros.
“Other smart rings aren’t as smart as their manufacturers want to claim. They’re expensive to buy, run out of battery quickly, and while both offer health tracking like steps and heart rate, neither offers users the ultimate convenience of being able to make contactless payments on the go,” MuchBetter executives said. The ring is a simple black band designed to be inconspicuous or inconspicuous, reducing the chances of it being mistaken for jewelry by a would-be thief.
A Daily Mail reporter tested the ring and walked around London wearing it in shops, on the tube and elsewhere making about ten different types of transactions and reported that overall everything went smoothly and only twice did the transaction fail but that was probably because he was slow to place the ring near the POS machine.
If this technology proves to be truly functional and safe, we can expect to soon see people around us putting rings on payment machines instead of cards or mobile phones.
Naftemporiki.gr