With a number of gadgets on the market in this day and age, the amount of cases, chargers, memory cards and other accessories that you need to store is enough to make anyone wonder why there isn’t just one device that can do it all.

Well, designer Prashant Chandra has come up with just that. Submitted as an entry to the Fujitsu Design 2011 award, this concept of the company’s notebooks joins a smartphone, tablet, laptop and camera all to one memory block to detach and use each one as you wish.

The Lifebook has one memory and one charger, so the four devices simultaneously sync to one piece of shared hardware, yet all can be used separately. The thinking behind it is that most of our devices waste valuable space through duplicating data, whether it be photos, a music library, files etc.

The design of the concept is certainly sleek. Pictures show a tablet in place of the laptop’s keyboard, and by the looks of it the tablet would connect to the screen so any typing could be done through that. The phone sits in a slot to the left hand side, and the camera slides out of the lid of the laptop. In fact one of the major advantages is that carrying this around would be no different in shape to a single laptop.

Unfortunately, within days of these images hitting the internet, the Japanese giant announced that it would not be released as an official product. But would the interest be there if it was available in stores?

Cynics would probably say a smartphone can perform three of the most important functions of the four devices – taking images/recording video, making a call/sending a text and browsing the internet. Of course there are times when you need a physical laptop to complete work – but without a traditional keyboard would you want to use your fingers to touch type on a document? Optional extras could be made available, but If the whole idea behind the design is to be minimalistic and multi functional, having to purchase additional equipment to carry seems to be missing the point a little.

Nevertheless, this design could inspire other companies to come up with a device which provides unified charging and shared hardware, prompting the idea that there must be a more practical solution to what many of us live with at present – and that can only be a good thing.

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