We don’t typically talk much about how to take screenshots on the Android phones you guys buy because it’s been the exact same process for years. On a Samsung phone, you do a palm swipe across the screen (if enabled) or press Power + Home for a couple of seconds. On all other Android phones, it’s a press of Power + Volume Down for a couple of seconds. Any newb knows how this works. Plus, the last thing any of you need is for us to become another Android SEO farm. There are enough of those. Gross.
With that said, if you have been a long-time Samsung Galaxy phone owner, things are actually changing on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ in the screenshots department. How exciting!
Since you no longer have a physical home button to press, you can no longer do the Home + Power combo to take a screenshot. Instead, you now get to be just another average Android user and do the Power + Volume Down trick. Cool, right?
Galaxy S8 Screenshots – Method 1
1. Press and hold Power + Volume Down for a couple of seconds.
2. Your phone will do a little buzz and then an animation to confirm the screenshot.
3. That’s it.
Galaxy S8 Screenshots – Method 2
1. Swipe the edge of your hand over your screen gently. (See image below)
2. If done right, your phone will also buzz and animate to confirm the screenshot.
3. That’s it.
Other Notes
Now, that’s of course not all. Those two ways will get you screenshots, but Samsung takes their screenshot feature up several notches. Since we’re here, we may as well talk about some of those items.
- Advanced Features: Head into Settings>Advanced Features and you’ll find settings for the Palm Swipe to Capture and Smart Capture. If you want to be able to do the palm swipe for screenshots, this is where you’ll enable it (it should be on by default). If you want some extra tools to show just after you take a screenshot, you’ll want Smart Capture on.
- Smart Capture: This is actually pretty useful, assuming you don’t need to fire off 10 screenshots in a row. Because after each screenshot (with either Method 1 or 2 above), Smart Capture displays a little menu bar at the bottom of your just-captured screenshot. You can tell it to continue capturing (“Scroll Capture”), should you want to capture a long webpage or document, plus you can draw on screenshots, crop them, or instantly share them to another app or person.
- See screenshots below.
And that’s pretty much it for Galaxy S8 screenshots. Samsung users, welcome to the Power + Volume Down party. We’ll make room for you.
This piece is part of our Galaxy S8 Guide, an ongoing segment dedicated to getting the most out of your Samsung Galaxy S8.
This post was last modified on April 20, 2017 2:49 pm