Ring turns fingertip to Bluetooth device

A Hong Kong company created a smart ring which turns a person’s finger to a Bluetooth earpiece, giving user full hands-free control of the smartphone.

The company named Origami Labs believes that this invention named ‘Orii’ can be alternative to modern Bluetooth earpieces that are uncomfortable to wear at times. Using bone conduction for transmitting audio can help the device serve its purpose.

The method of using bone conduction to transmit audio is new. The ring is worn on the index finger which will vibrate with an incoming call. The user can simply touch the fingertip on a sweet spot just before the ear and talk easily. The voice is crystal-clear which can be beneficial for people with hearing problems.

Orii is made up of aluminum melded into a tiny package that contains all the electronics. The main body was about 30mm long, 20mm wide and 12mm thick. Being water-proof, the ring contains a dual Bluetooth 4.0 radio along with Bluetooth Low Energy support. It also features dual-mic noise cancellation, a gyroscope, an LED, a 50mAh battery that provides 1.5 hours of continuous listening time and 40 hours of standby time, and last but not the least, a bone conduction actuator at the bottom, informs Engadget.

One of the advantages of Orii is that it supports both iPhone’s Siri and Android’s Google Assistant. The ring will provide a crisp playback of whatever is running on the phone whether it is call, music or video clip, etc. The user could make calls, send messages, post to social media and much more.

The team is planning to improve the device by creating a voice assistant platform that will be useful for anyone. This could possibly make the device capable of getting triggered through a keyword and then act on that to make an action, reports Tech Crunch.