ThinkPillow – Backerjack

Spritely connected alarm system enforces “Ya snooze, ya lose.”

Sometimes it’s just one of those days where even getting out of bed looms as a huge challenge. And by this point, it’s well known that none of the most commonplace smart devices in people’s lives really help that much. If it has a snooze button, it pretty much means the person still wrapped in their cozy comforter is not going anywhere.

Enter Spritely, the dual sleep tracker and alarm designed to help users achieve better rest and wake up on time. By placing it under a bed between the mattress and boxspring, Spritely is able to track and monitor sleep and send insights and personalized tips straight to a Bluetooth-connected iOS or Android device. And when morning strikes, Spritely wakes users up during their lightest sleep using their own Spotify, Soundcloud, or personal music libraries.

There’s no escape, either. With backup power installed, nothing will make its alarm shut off outside of staying out of bed. A bold proposal, sure, but one that’s designed to nab the determined napper. Spritely is going for $99, 17% off its eventual MSRP, and is expected to ship in December of 2016. Its campaign is looking for $100,000 by February 29th, 2016.

It’s clear: snooze is the enemy. While the ThinkPillow boasts similar sleep-tracking and body position monitoring capabilities and the feature-heavy Beddi wakes users up with similar music library integration, they both ultimately still let users press the snooze button. In contrast. Spritely is a smart decision for chronic oversleepers. Let’s see if it rises (and shines) to the occasion.

Smartphone-adjustable ThinkPillow measures sleep, wakes you up

Sleep is one of the most important ways to stay healthy. Sleeping resets mind, body, and soul, giving the chance for healing. However, most have trouble with their sleep patterns, either waking up in the middle of a REM cycle or sleeping for too short of a time.

ThinkPillow is a smart pillow that is fully adjustable in height and firmness. It is designed with special technology aimed at fixing any kind of spinal pain. Not only does it come with comfort, however, but it also tracks your sleep patterns. With this data, the accompanying smartphone app can choose when to wake you so that you’ll feel alert and refreshed instead of bedraggled and exhausted.

ThinkPillow’s smartphone app charts sleep patterns over time and, as such, can be useful to physicians if something goes wrong. In addition, it lets the user track what they’re doing three hours before bedtime and can make suggestions based on those habits. For instance, if the user isn’t getting enough sleep, but drinks coffee every night, the app will tell them to cut it out. ThinkPillow also spies on family members and lets users see the sleep patterns of mom, grandma, dad or whoever else uses the device.

Getting the right amount of sleep can be truly difficult. They say you should get out of bed when you initially wake up in the morning, but if that’s too early for some, they’d rather get another half an hour of sleep. It’s great that ThinkPillow can tell when the person is actually asleep, not just when they intend to be asleep, and uses that to wake them up in the morning. While well-intentioned, the family sharing feature may get a little annoying to some. Though it is good for elderly family members who are too far away to check up on. One ThinkPillow can be had for $102 NZD (~$79 USD) for estimated delivery in April 2015. This product hopes to raise $50,000 NZD (~$38,800 USD) on Kickstarter.