Introducing Outlime: Rapid Sketching for Android

Update: Outlime has now been discontinued.

Update 26 August 2010: The Outlime product page is now live at plymouthsoftware.com/outlime.

I'm pleased to announce the publication of my first app for Android: Outlime.

Outlime is a very minimalist sketching app for Android that lets you quickly commit ideas and concepts from your head to your phone. Outlime costs just £1.29 and is available from the Android Market. You can find out more about Outlime at on the product page.

Example sketches in Outlime

Outlime is inspired by 37Signals' Draft for iPad. A couple of weeks ago, lots of ideas were spinning round my head for new Amberleaf screens. I was on the verge of buying (another) whiteboard, but resisted cluttering and instead kept scribbling on endless piles of sticky notes.

Just at that time, I stumbled across Draft and hoped that such a minimalist app existed on Android. I couldn't find one, so instead set about creating the app for myself.

The result is Outlime. Following the extremely minimal concepts that inspired it, Outlime offers two pens (white and green) and an eraser. Sketches are automatically saved when you load another sketch, or exit the app.

Built for Android

Outlime takes advantages of Android technologies, like Intents for sharing Outlime sketches with any registered image app on your phone. This makes it simple to send sketches via any appropriate app installed on your phone, such as Gmail, Facebook, Picasa, and so on. Outlime also leverages the Android MediaStore, so your sketches show up in your phone's Gallery app.

Outlime benefits from larger screens, although I've found it pretty handy for sketching quick layouts on my phone. Although it was developed on a 3" Pulse, some of the newer Android devices are sporting 4", 5" and larger screens.

Writing Outlime has been a great learning experience for me in dealing with the intricacies of the Android SDK (although I have suffered serious ruby-withdrawal!), and in preparing an app for the Market. I've got some ideas how I'd like to develop Outlime. If you try out, let me know what you think by tweeting @cblunt or @plymsoftware, or commenting below.

Get Outlime from Android Market

Outlime costs just £1.29 and is available now from Android Market. You can scan the QR code below with your Android Device to view Outlime in the Market (use Barcode Scanner or similar).