I find it interesting that this is so easy on iPhone and so hard on Android.
For some reason, I think of taking screenshots as a poweruser feature (which might or might not be the case), and that Android would make it easy, while Apple wouldn't make it available to regular users.
I wonder what the thinking behind those decisions were. Did his Steveness demand the easy screenshot functionality to capture UI feedback on the go?
It is interesting considering the limited number of physical button combinations on the iPhone. It was definitely more than an after-thought. They introduced the feature in iPhone OS 2.0 at the same the SDK was released so I'm guessing they intended it mostly for developers then realized it was pretty handy for all sorts of things.
"that Android would make it easy, while Apple wouldn't make it available to regular users"
What would ever give you that impression? Before I went full-geek (I wasn't always this way), I considered myself a Windows power user. The first thing I ever published online (back in the nineties) was a short article titled "How To Be a Power User". It included what I thought was an exhaustive list of shortcuts that I used in my everyday computing life. I couldn't understand how other people got by using their mouse for everything. I once used my Windows PC for three weeks without a mouse, just so I could force myself to learn more keyboard shortcuts. I was in to it.
Fast forward 15 years and I'm a Mac convert. OS X contains a lot more "power user" features than most people would think. Your perception of a platform has a lot to do with familiarity, and I'd argue that the view summarized as "Apple doesn't make tools for power users" is wholly based in a lack of familiarity of their products.
It is a bit of a power user feature, but it's important to two groups of power users in particular: reviewers and developers. These are two groups that it pays to help.
Apple certainly doesn't make third-party developers its first priority, but they are decent at helping developers when it doesn't get in the way of Apple's desired user experience. One way they do this is by providing good developer tools and workflows.
For some reason, I think of taking screenshots as a poweruser feature (which might or might not be the case), and that Android would make it easy, while Apple wouldn't make it available to regular users.
I wonder what the thinking behind those decisions were. Did his Steveness demand the easy screenshot functionality to capture UI feedback on the go?