For a mobile operating system that touts its "openness," it's a bit perplexing that you'd have to root an Adroid phone to get any sort of screenshot capabilities. What about developers or technophiles like us who need an easy screenshot utility? iOS scores ten points in this round for the ease of screen capture, that's for sure.
So let's be honest: you're an Android user, you do need this functionality, and you'd like to do so without accidentally bricking your phone and cutting off all communication with the outside world. There's a way to do so, and while it's not as easy as holding together two buttons, it is the best way without accidentally killing your phone. Read along to find out how to use Eclipse and the Android SDK to take screenshots with your Android phone hooked up to your Mac.
So let's be honest: you're an Android user, you do need this functionality, and you'd like to do so without accidentally bricking your phone and cutting off all communication with the outside world. There's a way to do so, and while it's not as easy as holding together two buttons, it is the best way without accidentally killing your phone. Read along to find out how to use Eclipse and the Android SDK to take screenshots with your Android phone hooked up to your Mac.
1. Download Eclipse and the Android SDK
Eclipse is a software development tool that's utilized to run the Android SDK. This is the main application you'll be using to take your screenshots. Download it from the official site and choose the correct version for your Mac. For this how-to, we used the 64-bit version.
Then, go to the official Android site and download the SDK for the Mac.
Then, go to the official Android site and download the SDK for the Mac.
2. Installing Updates
When you open up Eclipse, it'll ask you where you want to save your workspace. Choose your directory, and click OK.
You'll come to a portal page. Click on Workbench in the far right. Now, you'll be presented with a blank work screen. Go into the upper right corner of the menu bar under Help > Install New Software. You'll need to install the Android Developer Tools (ADT) from Google's remote site.
Click "Add" in the top-right corner of the dialog box, then enter ADT for the plug-in name and type in this URL:
https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/
When you're all finished, you'll see a list of different tools:
The Install New Software dialog box will present you with a slew of software. Install them all.
Keep clicking Next to install, and when you're all done, accept the terms of the new license and click Finish. If you get a security warning, click to ignore it and install anyway, and then click Finish to restart Eclipse.
Go to the Eclipse>Preferencesin the menu bar and select the Android category. Next to SDK Location, click Browse to locate where you downloaded the Android SDK folder and load it. Select OK.
Now it's time to update the Android SDK and SVD manager. Head back up to the Menu Bar and select Window > Android SDK and AVD manager and under Installed Packages, select the Android SDK Tools and then hit Update All; follow along with the dialog windows that follow. This will install the SDK platforms for all versions of Android so that Eclipse is compatible with your device.
Select the Android SDK Tools in the Android SDK and AVD Manager to install and unpackage all versions of the Android SDK..
Then choose "Accept All" in the bottom right-hand corner to install all versions of Android, for both tablet and mobile devices. You'll have to update this periodically if you plan on using Eclipse with more than one Android device to take screenshots.
After the SDKs install, you should see all the versions of Android available to you under the "Preferences" pane.
3. Setting Up Your Phone
Plug your Android phone in to your Mac. A pop up will appear saying that the disk you inserted is not recognized by your machine:
Go ahead and ignore that. It's because Android isn't pre-formatted to work with Mac OS X.
On your Android phone, go into Menu > Settings > Applications > Development and select both "USB debugging" and "Stay awake"; this will keep the phone from turning off while it's plugged in, and USB debugging will allow you to operate the Android phone while it's plugged in with your computer.
Then, locate the Android SDK folder on your hard drive. In the Tools folder, locate DDMS and double click it to launch it.
You may get a pop-up that says:
Click Open and move forward. A terminal window will pop up.
If you did everything correctly with Eclipse, you should get the "Dalvik Debug Monitor" to automatically pop up after the Terminal command finishes.
Select your Android phone from the left pane, then go to the menu bar and from the Menu Bar select Device > Screen capture.
4. Taking Screen captures
You'll see the window where you can take screen captures of your Android OS. Each time you navigate to a new screen on your phone, you'll have to hit the Refresh button to get it to show up in Eclipse. You can Rotate the screen if the app requires a horizontal orientation, and then save it as a PNG file to wherever on your hard drive.
So while this isn't the easiest way to take a screen capture with your Android device, it'll do. Hopefully Google, or some third-party developer, can help out and bring Android users a simpler way to do so.
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