Pebble’s Index 01 Smart Ring Remembers What You Forget

smartwatches and appeared to have cornered the market with his Pebble devices. Their E-paper displays had a seemingly infinite battery life. Fast forward more than a decade, and Migicovsky is back at it, this time with a much smaller and more focused design. He has a new company called Core Devices, and they just revealed the Index 01, a smart ring that slips onto your finger.

You press and hold a side button for a second, then chat into the built-in mic, and when you let go of the button, the audio is transmitted to your phone via Bluetooth, which is when the app kicks in. The program conducts the speech-to-text conversion right on your device, so you can quickly convert your words into text. And it then delegated that task to a local language model, which can add that note to your calendar, set a reminder, or even generate an email. For Migicovsky, this is simply external memory for your brain, a means to unload your mental troubles without pulling out your phone and fiddling around.

The ring itself is a minimalist situation, constructed of stainless steel with a slender shape that resembles a normal wedding band, and weighs nothing at all. Sizes 6 to 13 are all available, and you can choose between polished silver, gold, or matte black. The button is held in place by a small amount of liquid silicone rubber. It clicks crisply every time you touch it; there are no vibrations or flashing lights to draw your attention, with the exception of an occasional flash from a tiny RGB LED when absolutely necessary. It is also water-resistant up to 1 meter.


Inside the Index 01, it all comes down to a few essentials: that microphone, the Bluetooth chip that handles syncing and a small amount of onboard storage that can store up to five minutes of audio if your phone is out of range, and a tiny silver-oxide battery that eliminates the need for charging. You should anticipate to get 12 to 15 hours of total recording time right out of the box. If you keep it to a few short recordings of three to six seconds each day, you should be good for two years before the battery runs out. The app will even notify you when the battery is getting low, allowing you to order a replacement without missing a beat. When the Index 01 dies, simply return it back to Core Devices, and they will handle the recycling. The no-recharge method keeps the design clean and simple while also keeping the price low by eliminating all of the unnecessary wires and ports found in so many other wearable devices.


You pair it with your phone, and the real action takes place in the Pebble app, which is available for free on both iOS and Android. The good news is that the app does not require any data to be sent to the cloud, so you won’t have to join a subscription service, as everything is processed directly on your phone. The code is also open-source, allowing you to tamper with it, modify the models to suit your needs, and even create your own bespoke integrations. You can use the single button to pause a song, take a photo with your camera, go ahead, or silence a call. It can understand over a hundred languages thanks to community-driven speech models, and you can even go into the raw audio to see if there are any flaws with the transcription.

Pre-orders start today, and you can grab one for $75. That price is expected to jump to $99 by March, when shipments begin worldwide. After placing your order, you will be able to select your size and color, and if you are unsure of your size, a sizing kit will be sent to you. Migicovsky pledges to have some alpha tests up and running in January to iron out any last-minute issues before going into full production.