
Designing For Android - joshuacc
http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2011/06/30/designing-for-android/
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wallflower
> Your product manager has just asked for screenshots of the developer’s
> build. The developer is busy and can’t get them to you until tomorrow. What
> do you do?! As of this writing, Android has no built-in way to take
> screenshots

Of all the little things that hurt the Android Market, this lack of screenshot
taking is probably one that Google engineers did not realize would be so big.

How do we expect bloggers and normal people to write about and share an app
they like if they don't have an easy way to take screenshots like iOS' Power +
Home?

~~~
nutjob123
This is actually a intentional move by the android team. It is a security
issue to implement screen shots because any android app or service could
immitate user actions and save the image. Imagine malware that took
screenshots every time you logged onto your bank account.

~~~
2muchcoffeeman
That doesn't even make sense. iOS has a hardware method for taking screen
shots. You physically press the power and home buttons and a screenshot is
taken and sent to your Photo album.

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babul
Unless you root your device, which can invalidate your warranty with most
manufacturers and service providers (at least here in UK - hence why many
people don't want to do it), and use a app like ShootMe (which I found to be
good and also one of the least intrusive in terms of required permissions),
taking screenshots on most Android handsets is a pain.

You can install the Android SDK (and required dependencies) which includes
tools you can use to grab screens, but I found it easier for most people to
install a tool like MyPhoneExplorer (which is free, includes ADB, and is very
easy for non-technical people to install) and the driver for their phone
(usually on the handset itself for many devices e.g. HTC phones) instead. The
big benefit is not only does it have a built-in and easy way to take
screenshots, but also can be used to backup/restore your phone including all
contacts/mms/sms/apps/settings/etc, and can be used for multiple handsets (or
you can make different profiles for same handset as a crude version control),
different phones e.g. Samsung/HTC/Nokia, and different OS e.g. as used on
Nokia/SonyEricson/BB/etc, so makes transfer or CRUD of contacts/mms/sms/etc
between devices easy and saves on hassles of having different software suites
for different phones.

The only solution I have found to take screenshots directly on a mobile
without full (permanently) rooting it is to soft root it using the RATC
(RageAgainstTheCage) exploit either directly with ADB or far more easily using
a tool like UnRevoked. This roots the phone until it is turned off, where upon
a restart the phone is once more unrooted.

Lastly, if you just want to take screen shots of your website or web-app, you
can do it without any rooting by installing the excellent DolphinHD browser
and Screen-Cut plugin. This also has added advantage of being able to take
full length shots of your page as one screenshot.

Note: AFAIK this applies to almost all devices I've seen up to Android Froyo
(2.2) and most Gingerbread (2.3) and tablets. Some manufacturers may have
implemented their own screenshot system.

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baconner
Its nice to see some good design advice for android getting out there. The
reputation for poor usability on the platform is I think driven more by
designers treating it as a secondary platform than it is android being
difficult to create good ui with. So many apps on the market feel like poorly
thought through iPhone ports with explicit exit functionality, loss of state
on exit/resume , soft buttons for things like search and back that exist as
hard buttons, and glossy iPhone like interface that feels out of place.

The best bit of advice I thought was to actually get a device and spend time
using it day to day before designing for it. If you're going to design
effectively you have to get into the users shoes a bit and understand their
expectations.

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cosgroveb
You _can_ get screenshots from Android but it requires the SDK and USB drivers
which is probably a PITA for a designer.

~~~
halo
Or a Samsung handset, which allows you to take screenshots using menu and
home.

~~~
yock
Which Samsung handsets? This doesn't work on my Captivate.

~~~
veeti
At least the international Galaxy S.

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Sephr
Android 3.1 _does_ have built-in screenshot functionality in the UI.

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jff
Why not just use the Android emulator to take a screenshot?

~~~
astine
I think this tutorial was meant for designers rather than developers who would
be familiar with the emulator. You'll note that they went through the steps of
informing the reader to actually install the sdk? This way might have a few
advantages I think. What if you wanted to get a screenshot of how your app
looked on a particular device with a different dpi or aspect ratio than the
emulator?

~~~
jff
But if you've installed the SDK, you now have the emulator. You can also set
the DPI/aspect ratio for the emulator to several common settings.

