Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has released the much-hyped Nexus 5 and along with it the Android 4.4 KitKat. The new OS comes with many new features, and one of them is the ability to record the screen of your Android device. Google says that this “utility is useful for developers who want to create promotional or training videos without using a separate recording device.” While this holds true, not only developers but anyone can use this feature to record their screen. In fact, screen recording is very useful for creating tutorials and walk-throughs of Android apps.
Screen recording on Android 4.4 KitKat
Before moving forward, you need to know that currently the only way to do this is through the Android SDK, and with the knowledge of ADB commands. But don’t worry, you don’t need to be a master of command line knowledge. Eventually there would be apps available in Google Play Store for recording screen but right now you’ll have to do with the Android SDK.
Now, connect your Android 4.4 deice to your computer, launch the command line and enter the below command to record your screen.
adb shell screenrecord /sdcard/filename.mp4
In this command, note that sdcard is the location and filename.mp4 is the name of the file that will be saved to your device. If you want to fine tune this with other settings like the length of the recording then try this command:
adb shell screenrecord –time-limit 25 /sdcard/filename.mp4
Note that the default and maximum value is 180 seconds (3 minutes). There are other command line options for help, size (video resolution), bit rate, rotate and verbose. You can find out detailed information about this from the Android’s Developer site.
Once your screen is recorded, you can then go to that place where you’ve saved it, watch it and then share it with others. We can expect such screen recording apps soon, as now the functionality has already arrived.
