The smart ring space is heating up. While Oura Ring currently dominates the fledgling category they pioneered, an ambitious startup named Ultrahuman aims to dethrone Oura as king of the rings.

Ultrahuman's flagship Ring Air packs advanced health signs tracking into a slender ring form factor. But more importantly, Ultrahuman is aggressively positioning it as a superior upgrade from the Oura Ring.

In this in-depth head-to-head battle, we'll see if Ultrahuman's technical firepower combined with its marketing bravado make it a true "Oura killer." Let's break it down feature-by-feature and capability-by-capability.

Hardware Design and Specs

The Oura Ring nails the minimalist, subtle ring aesthetic with its flattened circular titanium band. But at 9mm in width and 2.55mm thick, some users find it slightly bulky on the finger.

Ultrahuman's Ring Air goes more aggressive in slimming it down to 8.1mm wide and 2.5mm thick. It's also remarkably light at just 2.4 - 3.6 grams depending on size.

While both rings offer up to 100 meters of water resistance, Ultrahuman's featherweight build stands out for comfort and discreet wearability. You barely notice it's on your finger.

Winner: Ultrahuman Ring Air

Battery Life

Oura cites up to 7 days of operation per charge while Ultrahuman quotes 5-6 days for the Ring Air. For most users in the real world, they'll get 4-5 days on a single charge with both devices.

With similar battery longevity, Oura touts a 1.5-hour charging time compared to 2 hours for the Ring Air. But the differences seem minor between the two.

This round results in a draw with both delivering sufficient runtime between quick charges to enable continuous 24/7 wear.
Winner: Draw

Health Signs Tracking Capabilities

This is where the competition heats up. Both rings track the basics like steps, calories, sleep stages, heart rate, and temperature.

However, Ultrahuman emphasizes "continuous" heart rate monitoring rather than just during sleep for Oura. It also leverages advanced photoplethysmography sensors for blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) sensing.

For sleep, Ultrahuman uses infrared heart rate variability (HRV) tracking and temperature-based circadian rhythm analysis to provide deeper personalized sleep optimization.

And Ultrahuman is developing additional biomarker tracking capabilities like continuous glucose monitoring later this year. The brand takes a more-is-more approach to metrics.

Winner: Slight edge Ultrahuman

Workout Tracking

Oura has no built-in GPS and limited workout detection capabilities. You'll need to connect a phone or secondary device to get mapping, pace, elevation, and more during exercise.

Conversely, Ultrahuman promotes its real-time workout tracking mode with heart rate zones, calories, and GPS via a connected phone. For athletes, the Ring Air seems better optimized for actionable athletic performance insights.

Winner: Ultrahuman

App Experience

Both apps display sleep, readiness, and activity metrics on their dashboards. Oura probably has a more polished, intuitive interface out of the box.

However, Ultrahuman seemingly provides more personalized insights and guidance tailored to your health signs and goals. Its ecosystem also includes audio workouts, meditation content, and nutrition tracking.

For hardcore biohackers and data enthusiasts, Ultrahuman may provide a deeper analytical dive along with a wider range of features beyond just activity tracking.

Winner: Toss-up depending on user preferences

Cost and Subscription

Oura Ring requires an initial device payment from $299 to $549 plus an ongoing $5.99 monthly subscription for full app access and data analysis.

The Ultrahuman Ring Air costs a flat $349 one-time payment with no subscription required. You do pay more upfront but avoid recurring fees.

Winner: Ultrahuman (for subscription haters)

The Verdict...

Based on its premium hardware, and more advanced sensor technology, Ultrahuman makes a compelling case as the next evolution of the smart ring.

In many ways, the Ring Air does feel like the 2.0 version of Oura - lighter, slimmer, more metrics, and flashier marketing.

But Oura's strong brand recognition, polished interface, and excellent sleep analytics still have wide appeal, especially for a mainstream audience less obsessed with maxing out specs.

The winner in this battle may come down to the individual user's needs and preferences around design, data analysis, subscriptions, and overall experience. There's arguably room for both Oura and Ultrahuman's offerings in the market.

While Ring Air looks poised to chip away at Oura's dominating market share, dethroning Oura completely seems an uphill battle at this stage. But Ultrahuman is certainly a serious contender rapidly catching up and keeping Oura on their toes.

The consumer ultimately stands to benefit from having two highly capable smart ring innovators pushing the limits of wearable technology. Both Oura and Ultrahuman appear well-positioned to help people optimize their health, sleep, fitness, and performance through sensor-packed rings.

Ultrahuman Ring Air vs Oura Ring: In-Depth Feature Comparison

Now let's dive deeper into a full-blown feature-by-feature and capability-by-capability comparison between Ultrahuman Ring Air and Oura Ring.

Sleep Tracking and Analysis

Sleep performance impacts everything from mood and mental clarity to immunity and heart health. Both rings provide in-depth sleep tracking, but Ultrahuman makes a strong case for superiority here.

Oura Ring Sleep Features

• Sleep Score: Daily 0-100 score rates sleep quality and restfulness. Factors in sleep stages, HRV, timing, efficiency, etc.

• Sleep Stages: Detects light, deep, REM sleep cycles using heart rate and movement data.

• Insights: Provides tips to improve consistency and duration tailored to your patterns.

• Consistently accurate: Extremely reliable at detecting sleep stages on par with medical sleep studies. Oura is the gold standard in wearable sleep tracking accuracy.

Ultrahuman Ring Air Additional Sleep Features

• Personalized Sleep Index: Like Oura's Sleep Score but adds dimensions of sleep consistency and restfulness for more personalized optimization.

• Advanced sleep stage tracking: Leverages infrared HRV sensing for even more accurate sleep stage analysis, especially differentiating REM.

• Circadian rhythm mapping: Uses the ring's temperature sensor to map your circadian rhythm and provide personalized circadian alignment guidance.

• Sleep optimization content: Ultrahuman offers sleep meditation content to help improve your sleep quality over time.
  

Side-by-Side Sleep Tracking Comparison

Feature	Ultrahuman Ring Air	Oura Ring
Sleep score/index	✅	✅
Sleep stage tracking	✅	✅
Circadian rhythm mapping	✅	❌
Sleep meditation content	✅	❌
Consistency & restfulness factors	✅	❌
Advanced HRV sleep stage detection	✅	❌

Winner: Ultrahuman Ring Air

While Oura offers excellent foundational sleep tracking, Ultrahuman pulls ahead with its circadian guidance, audio content, and more personalized optimization approach. For those serious about maximizing sleep performance, the Ring Air has clear advantages.

Readiness & Recovery Tracking

Both companies aim to offer a quick daily glance indicating your readiness for physical and mental exertion based on sleep and additional biomarkers.

Oura Ring Readiness Features

• Readiness Score: Rates your daily capacity for activity on a 0-100 scale based on sleep, HRV, and recovery metrics.

• Insights: Provides generalized tips on whether to take an easy or intense training day based on your Score.

Ultrahuman Ring Air Recovery Features

• Recovery Index: Like Readiness but also incorporates respiratory rate, skin temperature, and even subjective user feedback on perceived recovery.

• Personalized insights: Guidance on optimizing workout intensity, activity, and recovery based on your evolving health signs profile.

• Benchmarking: See how your Recovery Index stacks up against other Ultrahuman users for motivation.

Readiness/Recovery Feature Comparison

Feature	Ultrahuman Ring Air	Oura Ring
Readiness/recovery score	✅	✅
Skin temperature tracking	✅	❌
Respiratory rate tracking	✅	❌
Perceived recovery feedback option	✅	❌
Personalized insights	✅	❌
Benchmarks vs. other users	✅	❌

Winner: Ultrahuman Ring Air

By incorporating more biomarkers and subjective user feedback into its recovery algorithm, Ring Air again appears to provide an advantage for optimizing daily performance.

Workout Tracking

For athletes and fitness enthusiasts, having a device that can optimize workouts and training is highly desirable. This is one area where Oura significantly lags.

Oura Ring Workout Tracking Features

• Basic workout detection: Automatically detects walks, runs, and bikes based on movement and heart rate.

• Limited metrics: Just duration, average heart rate, and calories burned for detected workouts. No real-time stats.

• No customization: Cannot add non-aerobic workout types or customize modes.

Ultrahuman Ring Air Workout Features

• Auto-detection: Detects when you start exercising using 6-axis sensors.

• Workout mode: Allows activating a workout to show real-time heart rate zones, pace, GPS route, and maps when connected to a phone.

• Post-workout analysis: Training intensity, cardio response, splits, and recovery metrics.

• Audio workouts: A library of guided workouts spans yoga, HIIT, running, strength training, and more.

Workout Tracking Comparison

Feature	Ultrahuman Ring Air	Oura Ring
Workout auto-detection	✅	✅
Real-time workout tracking & stats	✅	❌
Custom workout modes	✅	❌
Post-workout analysis	✅	❌
Audio & video workouts	✅	❌
Connected GPS	✅	❌

Winner: Ultrahuman Ring Air

For those wanting to monitor workout performance and progress, the Ring Air outpaces Oura by a wide margin in capabilities.

Heart Health Tracking

Both claim continuous heart rate monitoring, but Ultrahuman emphasizes 24/7 tracking whereas Oura focuses more on overnight while sleeping.

Oura Ring Heart Tracking Features

• Resting heart rate: Primarily overnight to assess cardiovascular fitness.

• Heart rate variability (HRV): Measured at night to gauge recovery needs.

Ultrahuman Ring Air Heart Tracking

• 24/7 heart rate: Continuous tracking including resting, workout, and average daily rate.

• Advanced HRV: Uses two metrics - RMSSD and SDNN - for precise short and long-term recovery insights.

• Blood oxygen: Monitors SpO2 levels including overnight to identify breathing issues.

Heart Health Tracking Comparison

Feature	Ultrahuman Ring Air	Oura Ring
24/7 heart rate monitoring	✅	❌
Blood oxygen saturation tracking	✅	✅
Dual HRV metrics	✅	❌
Resting heart rate overnight	✅	✅

Winner: Slight edge to Ultrahuman

Ultrahuman appears to provide a more comprehensive picture by filling in heart rate gaps that Oura misses outside of sleeping. Both provide excellent overnight heart health tracking.

Temperature Sensing

Body temperature reveals insights about sleep cycles, fertility, stress levels, and illness onset.

Oura Ring Temperature Features

• Temperature trends: Detects subtle temperature shifts at night and variations over time.

Ultrahuman Ring Air Temperature Features

• Continuous absolute temperature: Provides real-time skin temperature throughout the day and night.

• Сircadian guidance: Uses temperature patterns to provide personalized circadian rhythm alignment guidance.

• Illness detection: Flags sustained elevated temps that may indicate developing illness.

Body Temperature Tracking Comparison

Feature	Ultrahuman Ring Air	Oura Ring
Continuous temperature monitoring	✅	❌
Circadian rhythm guidance	✅	❌
Sickness onset warnings	✅	❌
Sleep cycle temperature shifts	✅	✅

Winner: Ultrahuman Ring Air

By offering 24/7 temperature tracking coupled with circadian guidance, the Ultrahuman ring again appears to unlock added functionality and actionable insights.

Respiratory Rate Tracking

Your nighttime respiratory rate can indicate issues impacting health and sleep quality.

Respiratory Rate Tracking

Both Oura and Ultrahuman provide breakdowns of your average nightly breathing rate, which normally ranges from 12-20 breaths per minute on average. Higher levels may correlate to poor sleep or underlying conditions.

This round is a draw with both rings nailing a key health biomarker.

Winner: Draw

Additional Feature Comparison

Beyond the major metrics, here are some additional feature differences that set the two rings apart:

Feature	Ultrahuman Ring Air	Oura Ring
Blood oxygen monitoring	✅	✅
Guided meditation content	✅	❌
Nutrition tracking	✅	❌
Custom workouts & training plans	✅	❌
Women's Health Insights	On roadmap	❌
Skin temperature insights	✅	❌
Respiratory rate tracking	✅	✅
Gyroscope & accelerometer	✅	✅
Calories tracking	✅	✅
Multiple user profiles per account	✅	✅
Ring-to-ring sharing	✅	❌
Apple Health integration	✅	✅
Google Fit integration	✅	✅
Auto-nap detection	✅	✅
Period predictions	❌	✅
Third-party app integration	❌	Limited

Winner: Slight edge to Ultrahuman due to a wider range of features. But Oura still has a few unique offerings like period prediction integration.

Verdict: Can Ultrahuman Dethrone King Oura?

Based on our extensive head-to-head comparison across all key metrics and capabilities, does Ultrahuman possess the firepower and overall package to emerge as the new king of smart rings? Let's summarize the high-level pros and cons of each.

Oura Ring Pros:

• Strong brand recognition and customer base.

• Excellent sleep tracking and analysis.

• More polished, user-friendly app.

• Period prediction and fertility tracking.

• Some 3rd party app integration like Apple Health.

Oura Ring Cons:

• Lagging workout tracking capabilities.

• Occasional accuracy issues.

• Sizing comfort challenges.

• More limited metrics and biomarkers were tracked.

• Recurring subscription after 6 months.

Ultrahuman Ring Air Pros:

• Slimmer, lighter, stealthier hardware design.

• Unparalleled workout optimization features.

• Superior sleep guidance leveraging circadian rhythms.

• More comprehensive health metrics and biomarker tracking.

• Customized recovery and readiness insights.

• Robust app experience with audio content and nutrition.

• No mandatory subscription.

Ultrahuman Ring Air Cons:

• Still a new company with limited brand awareness.

• The app is less polished and intuitive compared to Oura.

• Does not offer period or fertility tracking features.

In many respects, Ultrahuman appears poised to seize the smart ring crown from Oura with its more cutting-edge industrial design, sensor technology, and broader feature set - especially for serious athletes and biohackers.

However mainstream consumers may still gravitate to Oura's more approachable brand and interface. And Oura has time yet to match Ultrahuman's offerings and close feature gaps if they see continued user defections.

In our view, Ultrahuman Ring Air rates as the top smart ring you can buy today for optimizing health, sleep, and fitness - but not yet an Oura killer.

Oura still holds advantages in brand awareness, accessibility, and simplicity that appeal to new smart ring users not seeking ultra-advanced tracking. But among tech-savvy early adopters demanding maximum insights, Ultrahuman reigns supreme.

The smart ring space is firmly in a two-horse race now. For the consumer, this competition will likely continue yielding rapid innovations from both Oura and Ultrahuman as they jockey for pole position.