06-22-2013, 11:05 AM
SleepMapper review
I just got SleepMapper up and running. Here's a quick review (as of June 2013):
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Don't waste your time unless you have nothing else.
WEBSITE REGISTRATION
To begin with, the website is flakey. It took me umpteen attempts to get registered. The registration is picky (but not in a way that it could, like, *tell you*!) about the serial number you need to provide. My Philips System One serial number takes the form "Pxxxxxxxx CxFx" I had to put it all in, including that space. That wouldn't have been so big a problem had the website been stable. As it was, every time I tried a different serial number structure and it failed, I couldn't be sure if it was the s/n, or maybe me mistyping the captcha, or just their website. Anyway, eventually I got in.
DATA UPLOAD
Then I turned to getting my data up there. I realized only at the last minute that they require a Windows app (ultimately to be read on an iOS or Android device
) to read and then upload card data. I'm on a Mac, so had to crank up Parallels and then Windoze, not forgetting to manually switch over control of my USB card reader from OS X to Windoze. Not difficult, but not the sort of thing your old apnea-suffering grandma may be OK with. (Unless of course she was Grace Hopper, but then she probably wrote her own apnea analysis app anyway! 
)
MOBILE APP (iOS in my case)
OK, so registered on the website, data uploaded, I turned to my iPad to download the app. Vaguely curious that iTunes shows only an iPhone (not iPad) app, but ignoring for the time being (but see below). App downloaded, I logon but only after several failed attempts. As I said, the website seems to be very flakey.
And oh, what a disappointment. This is a pure eye-candy app. The core function is a big bright display of three numbers: AHI, "Mask Fit" (seems to be a measure of leakage), and "Therapy Hours". On the website, you get the same numbers plus a limited history graph. (The graph may also be available on the iPhone app, but since getting on there the first time I've not been able to get on since.)
The AHI and Therapy hours numbers match my SleepyHead numbers. But Mask Fit is nonsense. If my mask fits 100% then I'm a 100% fit for the next Olympic 100m sprint gold medal. Also, it only appears to want to take my data from last night, yet my card has data going back almost a year.
NAUGHTY NAUGHTY!
One final thing about the mobile apps. The Apple version is designed for the iPhone *not* the iPad. As with many such apps, it will also run on an iPad, but it's identical to the iPhone version. Specifically, it's small, appearing in the centre of your iPad, not much bigger than an iPhone itself. The most you can do is click a "2x" button in the bottom right, and that magnifies it up to "full screen". But it's just a magnification -- it's not a genuine iPad app. Also, even when the app is magnified, you can still see a black border around it -- it doesn't fill the full screen the way a proper iPad app does. And you can still see a "1x" button at the bottom right (to return it to iPhone size) and the Carrier, Date, and battery charge status along the top. See the picture below of my actual app, and compare with the one on their website (I'd post the URL but I'm not sure that's allowed.)
Now all of that would be fine as far as it went, albeit a bit disappointing, except for the fact that on the website ads, the display does *not* show the telltale signs of a magnified iPhone app. There's no "1x" button at the bottom right, no icons across the top and, most important, no black border around the whole thing. The one they show *does* look like a fullscreen app. Looks suspiciously like it's been prettified for ad purposes and that's a bit too bait'n'switch-like for my liking.
CONCLUSION
For now it's just, as I say, an eye candy app, the only thing being offered over and above something like SleepyHead is mobile access (if you can actually get it to reach the bloomin' website). If you can't get this working, don't worry you're not missing anything. Stick with SleepyHead or similar until Philips stops farming out its software development to a kid on $20/hr who can barely program.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Don't waste your time unless you have nothing else.
WEBSITE REGISTRATION
To begin with, the website is flakey. It took me umpteen attempts to get registered. The registration is picky (but not in a way that it could, like, *tell you*!) about the serial number you need to provide. My Philips System One serial number takes the form "Pxxxxxxxx CxFx" I had to put it all in, including that space. That wouldn't have been so big a problem had the website been stable. As it was, every time I tried a different serial number structure and it failed, I couldn't be sure if it was the s/n, or maybe me mistyping the captcha, or just their website. Anyway, eventually I got in.
DATA UPLOAD
Then I turned to getting my data up there. I realized only at the last minute that they require a Windows app (ultimately to be read on an iOS or Android device
) to read and then upload card data. I'm on a Mac, so had to crank up Parallels and then Windoze, not forgetting to manually switch over control of my USB card reader from OS X to Windoze. Not difficult, but not the sort of thing your old apnea-suffering grandma may be OK with. (Unless of course she was Grace Hopper, but then she probably wrote her own apnea analysis app anyway! )MOBILE APP (iOS in my case)
OK, so registered on the website, data uploaded, I turned to my iPad to download the app. Vaguely curious that iTunes shows only an iPhone (not iPad) app, but ignoring for the time being (but see below). App downloaded, I logon but only after several failed attempts. As I said, the website seems to be very flakey.
And oh, what a disappointment. This is a pure eye-candy app. The core function is a big bright display of three numbers: AHI, "Mask Fit" (seems to be a measure of leakage), and "Therapy Hours". On the website, you get the same numbers plus a limited history graph. (The graph may also be available on the iPhone app, but since getting on there the first time I've not been able to get on since.)
The AHI and Therapy hours numbers match my SleepyHead numbers. But Mask Fit is nonsense. If my mask fits 100% then I'm a 100% fit for the next Olympic 100m sprint gold medal. Also, it only appears to want to take my data from last night, yet my card has data going back almost a year.
NAUGHTY NAUGHTY!
One final thing about the mobile apps. The Apple version is designed for the iPhone *not* the iPad. As with many such apps, it will also run on an iPad, but it's identical to the iPhone version. Specifically, it's small, appearing in the centre of your iPad, not much bigger than an iPhone itself. The most you can do is click a "2x" button in the bottom right, and that magnifies it up to "full screen". But it's just a magnification -- it's not a genuine iPad app. Also, even when the app is magnified, you can still see a black border around it -- it doesn't fill the full screen the way a proper iPad app does. And you can still see a "1x" button at the bottom right (to return it to iPhone size) and the Carrier, Date, and battery charge status along the top. See the picture below of my actual app, and compare with the one on their website (I'd post the URL but I'm not sure that's allowed.)
Now all of that would be fine as far as it went, albeit a bit disappointing, except for the fact that on the website ads, the display does *not* show the telltale signs of a magnified iPhone app. There's no "1x" button at the bottom right, no icons across the top and, most important, no black border around the whole thing. The one they show *does* look like a fullscreen app. Looks suspiciously like it's been prettified for ad purposes and that's a bit too bait'n'switch-like for my liking.
CONCLUSION
For now it's just, as I say, an eye candy app, the only thing being offered over and above something like SleepyHead is mobile access (if you can actually get it to reach the bloomin' website). If you can't get this working, don't worry you're not missing anything. Stick with SleepyHead or similar until Philips stops farming out its software development to a kid on $20/hr who can barely program.
