As I’ve noted a few times, unlike the iPhone, there is no simple way to grab and save a screenshot on the Nexus S phone, or on any Android phone that hasn’t been rooted. There is a complex work-around, however, that delivers beautiful screenshots. Credit to this post from Androidcentral for getting me started.
To start, you have to download and install the appropriate Android software developers kit, or SDK, from Google here. A current version of Sun’s Java Runtime Environment is also required.
Next, start up the program in the resulting tools folder called “Android” to add a few needed pieces. On the Mac, I just added the Android 2.3 platform extra, but I believe Windows users need to also install some USB drivers.
Now, on your phone navigate to Settings > Applications > Development and check the box called “USB debugging.” Then plug the phone into your computer via a USB cord.
Go back to your Android SDK and run the program called ddms (short for Dalvik Debug Monitor Server). Your phone should be listed in the left-hand window. Click on it and then click on the menu called Tools and select “Screen capture…”
Now you should have a window come up showing exactly what’s on your phone’s screen. Hit “save” and you get a PNG-formatted screenshot saved on your computer. If you want to navigate to something else on the phone, do so and then hit the “refresh” button on the ddms screen. And, as Jerry Pournelle likes to say, Bob’s your uncle. Enjoy.
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