How To Capture Screen Shots On An Android Device Using the Android SDK
This is one option the Android OS (as of version 2.3.3) lacks that’s available on iPhone’s. Why Oh Why can’t we take screen shots easily? Taking screen shots on the iPhone is so easy. You just hold down the home and sleep buttons simultaneously. Then the image will be in the Camera Roll. With Android devices, it’s not so easy, and you have to be connected to a PC.
There’s a few ways to take screen shots on Android devices. One way is to use the Android SDK (software development kit). Another is to use an app.
First, we’ll go through the process using the Android SDK.
1. You’ll need to download on your PC:
2. Install the JavaTM Platform, Standard Edition Development Kit
3. Install the Android SDK
- Installing the entire Android SDK can take a while. You can download the .zip instead of the .exe version.
- With the .zip version
- Extract the “android-sdk-windows” folder from the .zip file
4. Find what version of Android you are running. On your phone: Settings -> About Phone -> Software information -> Android version
5. Go to the folder you just extracted android-sdk-windows/tools/ and open up SDK Manager.exe
6. When the SDK Manager opens, Don’t install any packages by choosing “Cancel” when it asks you to “Choose Packages to Install”. It will take a long time to install all the packages, so we are only going to install the one that is pertinent to you.
7. In the SDK Manger, select Available packages->Android Repository
8. Select and only install the SDK Platform for the version of Android you are running
9. Go back to the android-sdk-windows/tools folder and open up ddms.bat
10. Make sure USB debugging on your phone is checked. On your phone, Settings -> Applications -> Development -> USB debugging
11. Plug in your Android device with a USB cable to your PC and you should see your phone.
- If you don’t see your phone, the correct USB driver is probably missing.
- If you have an HTC device you can use HTC sync and bypass the steps below to download the USB drivers. This was the only way I was able to get the correct USB Driver for the HTC Sensation 4G.
- Unplug and plug in your Android device. When you plug in your Android device Windows will automatically try to load the drivers for your phone. Don’t allow Windows to download the driver automatically. Update the driver manually via the device manager.
- Go to the SDK Manager and download the USB drivers in: Available packages->Third party Add-ons->Google Inc->Google USB Driver package
- In the Device Manager, install the driver from the folder of the usb driver you just downloaded.
12. Open up the Davlik Debug Manager by going to the android-sdk-windows/tools folder and open up ddms.bat
13. Select your device
14. Take a screen shot by pressing “ctrl s”.
[…] Androidmarketapps.com This entry was posted in Android Market Apps and tagged Android, Capture, Device, Screen, Shots, Using by admin. Bookmark the permalink. […]