One of the biggest hurdles with wearable tech is actually wanting to wear the things. It sounds vain, maybe, but if you're not aesthetically inclined to wear a smart watch or an activity tracker, all promise of function is worthless. In an effort to be more attractive (literally) to female shoppers, we're seeing wearables take on a jewelry feel: Jawbone adapted a metal hook closure, Mira has a design that hides its tracker inside of a cuff bracelet, and Tory Burch designed a pendant necklace to disguise Fitbit's Flex tracker.
Today, the world of pretty wearables gets another win with the launch of Ringly's "Aries" collection; a quartet of slim, gold-plated bangles in four semi-precious stone options.
Just like the company's debut product, a smart ring launched January 2015, the bracelets rely on a Bluetooth connection from your phone to shoot notification to the device. Through the Ringly app, you can control which kinds of alerts you want, and how you want them to display (text messages can be a green light with a single vibration, for instance). You can filter messaging so only notifications from certain people make it through (the baby sitter's calling! The boss e-mailed!), or you can get notifications for over 100 connected apps, from Snapchat to Uber.
The biggest difference between Ringly's new bracelet and its existing ring (beyond the obvious) is that the bracelet will track steps, including calculations for distance traveled and calories burnt viewable on the app. The bracelets ($195) are available for pre-order beginning Tuesday, and are expected to ship in late July.
