For a company that is less than five years old Innergie have already racked up a shelf full of awards including iF Product Design, Reddot Design, and CES Innovation. From a design point of view the company has it nailed down and that includes it’s Magic Cable Trio 3-in-1 USB Cable. It may be small but it looks good, does the job, and make you wonder why no one has thought of it before.

Innergie Magic Cable Trio 3-in-1 USB Cable

The 3-in-1 USB, or TACC-FMD70 for it’s proper name, is a charge and data synchronisation cable. It can also be used across a broad range of devices thanks to it’s novel design. One end of the cable is a standard USB connector but move along the 20cm length of the plastic coated outer sleeve and you will find something special: three adapters in a line. First up is a mini USB connector followed by a micro USB connector and lastly a 30-pin Apple adapter. Mini USB works with some brands of BlackBerry, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola devices. Micro USB is more typical on Bluetooth headsets and eBooks such as the Kindle whilst the 30 pin Apple adaptor is, as you might expect, for Apple devices.

Mini USB adapters may be pretty common, micro USB perhaps less so, but in a household like ours Apple adapters are scarce and seem to disappear as quickly as a chocolate cake left in the fridge overnight.

The cable can only charge one device at a time due to it’s design. Each adapter clicks into the next in order to allow power to flow through. So, the mini USB slots into the micro USB which, in turn, slots into the Apple adapter. This is a neat and tidy solution that also ensures ends don’t get lost. If you need to use the micro USB adapter you simply need to disengage the Apple adapter and if you need the mini USB adapter you just disengage it from the micro USB adapter.

Like other Innergie products the 3-in-1 has a feel of quality about it. The finish on adapters is a pleasant white gloss plastic with light grey print whilst the cable is pretty chunky and nicely rounded off with a protective sheath at each end.

The 20cm (7.87 inches) is end-to-end (metal to metal) so the actual cable length between adapters is considerably smaller. 20cm may seem like a strange, and somewhat short, length for a cable like this but Innergie say it’s purposely short to ensure the cable can transfer 2.1 Amps which is a requirement for Apple MFi (Made for iPod/iPad/iPhone) certification.

The cable also provides data synchronisation too so you can charge and sync at the same time although Innergie point out that this largely depends on the brand and model of the particular device. For testing we used the 3-in-1 cable with an array of devices including a Samsung GALAXY Note, Apple iPhone 4S, Amazon Kindle, and Jawbone JAMBOX and it performed well on all of them.

In Summary: Innergie Magic Cable Trio 3-in-1 USB Cable

Overall, the Innergie Magic Cable Trio 3-in-1 USB Cable is a really handy alternative to carrying around three separate cables.

The price is reasonable. Some may balk at the £16.08 price tag (price checked 30th June 2013) but anything that reduces the number of cables we have to carry around is well worth considering. Also, consider the official Apple 30-pin to USB Cable is £15 from the Apple Store. It’s almost a shame there isn’t a lightning adapter included: if it were this cable would be a no-brainer. As it is it’s still a pretty tempting proposition.

When operated in tandem with the previously reviewed mMini DC 10 Auto Adapter this combination makes quite the pair and one that is surely going to find a place in many a travellers gadget bag.

For more information see Innergie: Magic Cable Trio 3-in-1 USB Cable | Buy the .