Lifebook Frame Series

The Lifebook is one of seven designs that received a “Judges special award” during the recent competition “A Life With Future Computing,” a competition hosted in collaboration by FUJITSU and the Design Association of Japan. The device is quite unique, composed of three individual and detachable pieces that all serve a purpose in the overall build. A transparent frame holds the pieces together, and also allows for the easy cleaning and maintenance of the device.

This device has a multitude of uses, from a number pad, touch pad, graphic tablet, and a social networking interface. The coolest feature is the fact that, when detached, the LifeGear can also serve as a smart phone, giving you all of the capabilities of the every day smart phone as well, hence the multi-functional use of the components.

While it may look like a puzzle, the design is pretty basic, yet pretty intuitive as well. The Duralumin-Frame, a combination of copper, magnesium, manganese and aluminium (from least to most abundant) which provides a very light but sturdy/tough material, holds all the pieces together, providing a solid frame to the whole device. The Touch Monitor, 3:1 in size, allows for a mouse-free environment. The keyboard serves as not only a keyboard, but also serves as the memory (presumably DDR3 laptop RAM) holder, HDD drive, battery/charging station, and holds a DVD drive.

The great thing is that these components are exchangeable, allowing for the user to customize (to some extent) what their device is capable of doing. As noted above, the LifeGear is a very versitile device, allowing for a multitude of uses, especially when coupled with the innovative Touch Monitor. The LifeBook Frame Series is really a cool design. The multitude of functions that this device provides is outstanding, and possibly something that designers and manufacturers will start to look into.