Taking screenshots with your Android 2.3.3 devices will continue to be a painful affair as the feature requires a permission that only system applications can grant, Google has clarified.
“The screenshot feature requires a permission that only system applications (apps signed with the system image’s key) can be granted. It will not let you take a screenshot programmatically or using the phone’s keys,” Romain Guy, a Google engineer, has clarified.
Guy was reacting to earlier reports that Android 2.3.3 devices will be able to take screenshots without the need of third party apps.
So far, all the screenshots of the Android operating system have been taken with the help of third party applications or Android SDK itself — and to get these the users need root access.
On the other hand, webOS and iOS give users a simpler method of taking screenshots, something which was not available with Android.
Earlier it was reported by Android Central that in Android 2.3.3 taking screenshots would be allowed for apps, if someone wanted to develop such an app.
Many devices don’t even have Android 2.2 yet, so it will take some time before taking screenshots became easier in the Android world. Even after that, users would still need a third party app.