In brief
Ring Zero lets users control phones and compatible smart home appliances with preset finger gestures. Setup involves Bluetooth pairing and assigning gestures in an app; hands-on testing found a fairly high success rate and a response time of about one second after completing a gesture.
Apple Watch officially launched last month, drawing more attention to smart wearable devices, or “wearables”. But wearables encompass far more than smartwatches. Alongside Google Glass and smart wristbands, the Ring Zero smart ring from Japan has recently been introduced in Hong Kong. Once you put it on, simply moving your finger in the air lets you control your phone remotely and even home appliances, looking every bit as stylish as Tony Stark operating computers with mid-air gestures in Iron Man.
Ring Zero has a simple design, with a touch button and a small indicator light on its compact plastic band. It also incorporates the proprietary Maestro motion detection engine. Used with a mobile app, it lets you control your phone or other electrical devices remotely. Operation and setup are straightforward and should pose little difficulty for regular app users. Simply pair it with your phone as you would any ordinary Bluetooth device, then use the app to assign your own gesture patterns to each function.
Once setup is complete, hold down the button on the ring with your thumb, trace the preset pattern in the air, then release the button. Hands-on testing found a fairly high success rate and a quick response: the ring could recognise the pattern and execute the command about one second after the gesture was completed. According to JC Shop director 莊天麟, whose company introduced the ring, Ring Zero is already the second generation. Its response speed is nearly ten times faster than the previous version, and its accuracy has improved threefold, making it considerably more practical.
As a wearable, Ring Zero can do more than operate a phone. When paired with smart home appliances, remotely switching off lights or turning on a television with a finger gesture is also straightforward. The Philips Hue smart bulb and Belkin’s WeMo SWITCH power controller work in much the same way as phone control. Philips Hue allows users not only to switch lights on and off, but also to change their colour by moving a finger up, down, left or right. WeMo SWITCH makes it easy to turn different electrical appliances on and off, offering considerable convenience.