I'm an iPhone user and have very little experience with Android, and I'm pretty surprised to find this out.

I was trying to help someone set up his email on an Android device yesterday and the setup guide I found featured clumsy photos of the phone and its various set up screens. I was wondering why someone would take that approach vs. grabbing screen shots. I guess that question is answered.

What model Android phone?

I'm curious because I remember going into the tmobile store in the mall and purchasing the G1 back in 2008. I had the phone and email setup before getting back to my car.

I think it depends on the phone but I'm pretty sure most Android devices can do that by now. Mine can take screenshots by pressing the Home+Power buttons.

really? what phone are you on?

Galaxy S2, I know it worked on the original Galaxy S aswell. And I think I've seen it working on the Nexus S.

It could be that Samsung added it to their phones and that it's not a Android feature itself.

it is a samsung-specific feature. it is not present in AOSP or most other manufacturer builds of android.

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.

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.

I would assume that the screenshot functionality would be implemented as an OS-level, highly protected service (one that <uses-permission> in the manifest would not be able to grant an app access to).

Of course, if the phone is rooted, it's the Wild West and any app can potentially run the screenshot service.