What’s wrong with screenshots on the Google TV Streamer?

Why does taking a easy screenshot at all times need to be so darn awkward? Are you able to bear in mind if that’s energy plus volume-up, or volume-down? What number of instances have you ever simply mashed on all of them till the screenshot lastly labored? As if issues weren’t unhealthy sufficient on Android telephones, the scenario’s much more annoying on Android TV — and to listen to studies of the newest improvement, it’s by some means getting worse nonetheless.

Why would you wish to take a screenshot on Android TV? Admittedly, this most likely appeals extra to smartphone journalists and different obsessive varieties like us who love to trace all of the trivialities of UI improvement. However actually, the purpose is that it’s your gadget, and if you wish to take some screens, why shouldn’t you? The largest downside is that your typical Android TV distant isn’t going to supply a devoted screenshot button — and good luck getting that power-plus-volume trick to work right here.

Up to now, the simplest resolution has been utilizing software program to remap the distant: to assign completely different performance to the buttons than the producer initially supposed. In a pinch, you can set it up in order that the Netflix button (or any of your selection) now takes screenshots and saves them to native storage for later retrieval.

However now the staff at 9to5Google has seen that with the brand new Google TV Streamer, the platform not appears to assist this apply. Whereas trying to remap doesn’t throw up any apparent error messages, the screenshots simply don’t work.

It’s not instantly clear why this doesn’t work on the gadget, however it feels probably this could possibly be a consequence of Android TV 14, and we’re bracing to count on the identical from different {hardware} operating it. The change won’t even be intentional, as this was at all times a bit hacky, and maybe dropping this screenshot workaround is simply the consequence of a broader platform replace.

In any case, it’s not the tip of the highway for screenshots on Android TV and Google TV, and 9to5Google factors out which you could at all times hook up with the highly effective Android Debug Bridge (ADB) and manually concern instructions to seize screens. That’ll need to do, however we’ll miss our screenshot distant hack.