Carbo › Pencil Notes & Drawing for Android

Carbo has long been my go to for scanning written notes. It’s clear and allows me manipulate the scan exactly as I want. Its export options work well. I haven’t used the pencil option much, but it has come in handy. As someone who prefers to write on paper then scan for long term reference it’s perfect for me and well worth the investment.

7.99 for a below average pencil app. You do the math.

This is perfect for pulling diagrams and tables out of high yield review texts for classnotes without maintaining the in-book design. I scanned a table and was able to make original looking notes in a concept map format from all the info within a minute. Realize that this is definitely meant to do that, not much more. The template can only be applied post editing, so you cant write on the paper background you want it in. Only one pen option which you can change the style of in the post editing template area, but not in active editing. The pen absolutely needs to have a smaller line width option - 3 available and to really use this practically, the narrowest setting is where I'd have a highlighter set to. The app is great for not getting distracted and for what it is. A few minor tweaks would make it excellent, in my opinion.

Carbo makes pretty good scans, but it’s crippled by the lack of a viable export option. Users need to be able to select multiple scans and export them to PDF or other file formats. Until that happens, save your money and consider this unusable for most purposes.

Was hoping for same sketching engine as on Inko, but it isn’t. And with no demo version, no way for me to test without costing $8. At this point, I won’t use this app and wish I could get a refund.