UPDATE: Samsung Fascinate tip #1: Froyo Screen Capture

written by: Nick Kosmides

So, you've had your Fascinate for as long as I have and have muscled through the hell that was Android 2.1.  You've made it this far and didn't give in to your lame friends promoting their iPhones as better than your phone because it can take a screen capture of itself.  Well now that you have Froyo that is not the case anymore.

Not sure if this is something that Verizon or Samsung threw in there, because I haven't been able to pull anything up online other than using the SDK.  But the Samsung Fascinate is now equipped with the ability to capture an image of the screen.  To take a pic ,simply hold the Back button and simultaneously press the Power button.  If enabled you'll hear a sound effect and a text notification will pop at the bottom of the screen informing you that the screen capture was taken.  That's it!

The system saves it in a new folder found on the root called "ScreenCapture".  The images are saved as PNG files, or Portable Network Graphics, and the file name structure should appear as "SC[year][month][day]-[time]"

You can easy see all your screen shots by going into the Gallery.  Above is a screen shot of my home screen.  Some apps may make it difficult to capture an image depending on the Back button functionality.  Basic rule of thumb is -- if the Back button can be held without affecting the app, then you can take a pic.

Enjoy!

UPDATE: Upon sniffing around the innards of the device, I found the "com.sec.android.app.screencapture" application that most likely allows us to capture our favorite on screen moments.

UPDATE #2: If you are visiting this page from a Google search or whatever, please use the comments below to let me know if this was helpful or is missing some information you may have been searching for.

UPDATE - UNO "Currently unavailable" on the Amazon Appstore

written by: Nick Kosmides

Perusing through the Top 100 best selling apps for Android doesn't normally ping in ones mind when thinking about searching for the next big story in the Android space, but sometimes you just get lucky.

In this case, while window shopping the last page of the Top 100 Paid Apps I noticed UNO. I am not so surprised to see it so low on the list, though seeing great games like Pew Pew 2, Zenonia 2, and Guerrilla Bob on the same page does surprise me - and worries me. I was surprised to see it was unavailable for purchase.

When searching for the game's title using the Amazon search field and the category set to Appstore for Android you'll read the query results as:

Your search "uno" did not match any products in: Appstore for Android

Only finding the app at the 88th spot on the Top 100 Paid Apps list is possible.  With only five reviews posted for the app one could posit that it may have been pulled due to their comments.  Poor graphics, rushed game, not tablet friendly; all sound like neglect.  Or that may even point to the developers at Gameloft focusing their efforts on a better presence in Amazon's Appstore.

Reuters had previously reported that the company was planning to use Amazon's controlled ecosystem to leverage the 95% of their revenue from mobile games sales. The Gameloft site is host to a plethora of great game choices, with the price being having to purchase through Gameloft directly and deal with their DRM restraints.

Both Amazon and Gameloft have been contacted and there has been no official response to the issue with UNO or Gamelofts more immediate intentions in the Amazon Appstore. Check back for updates.

UPDATE: A customer care rep for Gameloft has responded to the omission of UNO from Amazon's Appstore and the general curiosity for when their games will come to Amazon.  Pretty vague as expected, though it almost suggests they aren't planning anything for release through Amazon.  Read for yourself:

Distributing our games through our own channel is the only way so far to make sure that we achieve this level of quality for all handsets. I am not saying that the result is always 100% perfect but we are doing our best. 

That is why we want to offer our games mostly through our sites – to make sure that our customers are fully satisfied with the result and will love their gaming experience!

Unfortunately I can not give you more specific information concerning Android and Amazon markets. Sometimes we need to remove some of our applications from the market due to the circumstances, that we can not influence.