Philips SmartSleep: Philips personal health solutions at CES

Throw those Sleeping Pills Away: there’s a New Sleep Partner in Town: The Philips SmartSleep

 

For those who don’t sleep easy or who only manage to get a few hours of sleep, sleeping pills and the rest seem to be a commonplace phenomenon in their medicine cabinets. Only those who don’t get a goodnight’s sleep are aware of the actual importance of it. That’s not to say that others out there don’t know of the same but when you have something you don’t really comprehend the value of it till it’s gone. Well, all that’s going to change with Philips SmartSleep

Philips SmartSleep was recently launched at the CES held in Las Vegas, the company claims to give you a better night’s sleep without needing to put in any extra hours of dosing. You will reportedly get up feeling more alert, refreshed and rejuvenated.

What is Philips SmartSleep about? 

Philips SmartSleep is a foam-like headband that is supposed to give you a relaxing night’s sleep. This gadget plays soft soothing sounds to help you get that good night’s sleep. It is said that while playing these relaxing tones from the Philips SmartSleep you can get more energy from your sleep.

Besides recording the quality of your sleep on to an app that connect to the Philips SmartSleep, that you can check in the morning, the Philips SmartSleep kicks into motion once you enter a “slow wave sleep”, which is basically a sleep stage where your breathing slows as well as your heart rate with relaxed muscles. For those who don’t get sleep easy, reaching this stage itself might be difficult and in that case how much good this product will do is anyone’s guess.

How does the Philips SmartSleep really know when you’ve reached that stage of sleep? The answer is simple there is a lot of complex algorithms involved in the Philips SmartSleep. These algorithms were made in close partnership with various neurologists and doctors.

The Philips SmartSleep has sensors in it that helps detect when a person is in the said stage of sleep. The customized tones are then played when a person is in this stage of sleep, with the tones playing through an integrated speaker, the tones are played at a volume and their timing is all customized to make this stage of sleep more relaxing and lasting while using the Philips SmartSleep.

Testing conducted on the Philips SmartSleep: 

Philips says that they have tested this product on people who don’t really get enough sleep because of their hectic lifestyles and they go on to say that about 70% of this test population found that they got a feeling of being less tired when using the Philips SmartSleep. The target market is seemingly those who don’t get enough sleep, not those who have a difficulty in sleeping in the first place. The test subjects were shown to be more alert, having a higher level of energy and who had a better quality of sleep overall.
As to how many were exactly tested, there is no clear indication. Philips also goes on to say that the Philips SmartSleep is clinically proven and is the first sleeping wearable that is come out.

Mono-Live Gadget Review: Philips Hue Wellness and Wellner lamp

Wellness & Wellner - Latest Tabletop Offers

some years now. The company’s two latest tabletop offers come from the Wellness and Wellner and both come with White Ambiance LED bulbs that can imitate a variety of natural daylight colour temperature which are meant to assist you in waking up, to relax, concentrate as well as to fall asleep.

 In the case of Hue light, the installation is mostly a three-step procedure. You could screw in the bulb, control up the Hue bridge which is sold separately, then download the Philips Hue app, pairing it with the bridge and bulbs.

 The entire procedure tends to take only a few minutes. You will note that while both lamps tend to come with the A19 White Ambience bulbs, one would need to own or purchase a $60 Hue bridge should the user prefer to control the lights with the app.

 A week was spent on utilising Wellness and Wellner as dedicated bedside table and desktop lamps and since they were aimed at well-being, they were thought to help you get out of bed in the morning, concentrate during the day and thereafter relax and fall asleep at night which was preferred to place them in setting where one could test these claims.

Customizable Lighting - Enjoyable

On setting up the `wake up’ and `go to sleep’ schedules, in the Hue app, both lamps were added to Apple’s HomeKit as well as Amazon’s Alexa and the week was spent on experimenting with light. One would not need to spend winter in Anchorage or suffer from S.A.D. for the light to play a role on your feelings. As daytime animals we tend to depend on precise forces as well as wavelengths of light to indication when one ought to sleep, or when to wake up and when to get about with the business.

Screw up your normal daily rhythm and you will mess with your metabolism, memory, and alertness. The precise effects light tends to have on humans is yet being researched on various façades though customizable lighting is said to be still enjoyable with or without the medical assistances. Phillips Wellner and Wellness desk lamps are said to be similar to f.lux – for real life.

 With regards to the design, both the lamps tend to be inoffensive and unremarkable which could be least partially intentional. They tend to resemble luminous gumdrops which though somewhat weird tend to be much better at blending in to various decors than Philip’s retro-futuristic Hue Beyond and Phoenix lamps.

Establish `Wake-Up’/`Go To Sleep’ Routines

The frosty glass covering both the lamps have done a remarkable job of distributing the light evenly and the Ambience LED lumen output - ~800 Im is adequately bright to light up the larger rooms also. With regards to particular tricks, there seems to be nothing here which the present Hue users are not accustomed to. Once the lamps have been set up, there seems to be no worry utilising Siri and Alexa in turning them on and off and to call up precise scenes.

Moreover, the Hue app also enables the user to establish `wake up’ and `go to sleep’ routines to have the lamp to fade in or out, steadily at particular times. One could also opt to only have them pop on and off immediately at certain brightness and colour temperature. Having the Wellness lamp steadily illuminating the bedroom in the morning offers a pleasant way of waking up an individual though it does not seem to be as operational as a smartphone alarm.

The user has the ability of adjusting the lights from a warm 2200K to a harsh blue-white 6500K. It had been experimented with the upper limit which is said to be related with Hue scenes such as `concentrate’ and `energize’ in the Wellner office but was found discordant in spite of the time of the day.

Hue Lights – Compatible with More Physical Smart Switches

The deeper `read’ and `relax’ scenes seemed to be much better for working, which is left to be seen if the same is more productive. There seems to be some things regarding both the Wellness and Wellers which were irrational. The fact is that these are smart lamps though it seems like beautiful conspicuous mistake in neglecting a basic on/off switch for both.

It was also desired that overall, Hue lights would be compatible with more physical smart switches. One is mostly stuck with own dimmer and light switch of Hue if one needs a physical, non-screen and non-voice based way of controlling the lighting.

 It tends to be wonderful in having more of these affordable and less retro-futuristic, desk lamp choices to make from Philips, though it is suspected that most of the individuals interested in the lamps would yet attempt to save $70 and go in to purchase a White ambience LED bulb to be utilised with the prevailing lamps.

Philips PicoPix

Do you want a projector in your pocket then you have to go far Philips PicoPix. You can watch your own photos or watch movies anytime in larger screen. Philips released three new Pocket Projector models. Each of the three small PicoPix pocket projector fits easily in your hand. Philips introduces three new PicoPix pocket projectors, extending its large assortment of mini projectors. The wall or any surface can serve as a projection screen according to the manufacturer. You can enjoy viewing your own photos and videos in large format at any time and any place. The Philips PicoPix PPX 3407 and PPX 3410 are easily portable and about hand size. The resolution is 854x480 pixels and up to 100 lumens. According to the manufacturer it should be possible to realize a screen size of 305 centimeters (120 inches). Your Smartphone, tablet, camera or game console can be connected to it via both HDMI.

Small speakers make a  slideshows with with good background music. For everyday use in the office it is very comfortable. And it also works to play files from a USB stick or from 4 gigabytes of internal memory. The small PicoPix PPX 2340 can be worn on the wrist with a strap. The highlight is the loop; it is a USB Quick Link so that connecting and charging cable are always with you. Also there is a MP4 player which has a streaming function and a built-in speaker of one watt. The smaller model provides a resolution of 640x360 pixels and 40 lumens. The PPX 3407 will be available in white, bronze and in black and white; all three models will go on sale in October 2013.