How to Capture Screenshots on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Based Devices [Tip]

One of the very basic and key features missing in the earlier versions of the Android (i.e., Gingerbread) was the ability to quickly take screenshots and save them. This was a very noticeable omission and users had to resort to install 3rd party tools to get this functionality. And many of these tools required the root privileges on the device for the proper functioning. Fortunately for us Google has removed this limitation in the latest Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich as it allows to take the screenshots using a quick key press combination which not requires any 3rd party tool installation from the Market or root access.

All you have to do to capture a quick screenshot on your Android device with an Ice Cream Sandwich build installed is to press together the Vol-Down + Power button together and magically Android will capture the screenshot of whatever is currently shown on the screen and captured snap will be briefly shown in the middle of the screen for a preview. Picture file will be saved in a folder at the root of the SDcard.

I have personally tested this method on my Samsung Galaxy SII (S2) flashed with a custom Android 4.0.3 based firmware and it works perfectly fine. Although it should work on other Android 4.0 based devices as well. Note that on the currently available stock Android 2.3 Gingerbread firmware’s by Samsung for SGSII a user can capture the screenshot by holding the Home button and Power button together. This Samsung specific method apparently don’t work in the recently leaked ICS builds probably because now ICS has integrated screen-shot capturing functionality.

You might also be interested to have a look at the Samsung Galaxy S II section on our website where we have covered a large collection of tweaks, tips&tricks and rooting and custom ROM installation guides for the Samsung Galaxy S2 (SII).