Chinese Company Designs NFC-Ring to Control Your Smartphone

NFC technology may be dragging its feet in America, but Chinese company Geak is rolling out an NFC-powered ring that lets you control your handset by interacting with specialized software. For the time being, however, the software is only available on Geak’s own Android-powered Mars and Eye smartphones.

This NFC technology promises some pretty sweet features, though. You can unlock your smartphone by simply picking it up while the ring is on your finger, and even use it as a digital business card, sharing your contact info and photos by simply pressing the ring to the back of another phone. Holding the ring by your smartphone will also keep it from going to sleep while you watch a movie or listen to music, and the company promises that the NFC ring holds a 99-year charge, making battery life a non-issue.

None of these features are brand-new, but without a ring and the accompanying software you’d need to program a number of different settings on an NFC-equipped smartphone to unlock the same potential. Until NFC payment services like Isis and Google Wallet start pushing NFC in the U.S. the Geak ring may be your best bet.

If you’re not a ring wearer the company also offers an NFC watch, which features weather updates, pulse and heartbeat monitoring, and is powered by Android 4.1 with Bluetooth and WiFi support. For now, both products are only shipping within China, where the Geak ring costs 199 yuan (about $30) while the watch is priced at 1999 yuan ($326).