When you think wearables, the first things that come to mind are probably smartwatches and fitness bands. Wearables surfaced as a mainstream consumer electronics trend about four years ago, but eventually the trend tapered.

One Hong Kong startup, Origami Labs, is widening the wearables wardrobe with a finger ring that answers phone calls.

The ring, called Orii, receives any kind of smartphone notification, like a text message. The wearer can use the device to take a call or activate a phone’s voice assistant, hearing by placing the ringed finger close to one's ear. The ring communicates with a phone via Bluetooth, with the user's finger bones conducting the sound (painlessly).

Orii functions something like a wireless earbud but never has to be taken off until the battery dies after about 48 hours of standby time.

“It’s truly a wearable in that it serves as a notification device," co-founder Johan Wong said at the 2.5-year-old firm’s booth at the InnoVEX tech show in Taipei this week. It's ideal, he adds, "in a private setting, or [if] you’re outdoors or you’re on the go.”

After the user presses a button, he says, "then [the ring] will either read out whatever info," audibly like a text message, "or you can just jump on the call.”

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