[cesare]

It's always better to do a hard reset before selling your Android phone anyway.

Edit: Ops! Missed this part: "... and even a full reset to factory settings failed to eviscerate the indiscreet imagery."

I believe that these screenshots are cached to appear as previews for bookmarked sites. But a full reset should wipe everything. If this is not the case, it could indeed be an issue.

[masklinn]

According to the comments the pictures are stored on the SD card.

* A factory reset has no reason to clean up the SD card

* You'll more than likely keep or wipe the SD card before sale

* Pictures on the SD card should be easy for users to find

Conclusion: non-story.

[commandar]

A reset doesn't clear them because they're stored on the SD card, which a factory reset very specifically does not touch. Wipe the SD card and you've nuked a user's photos and any info stored by applications.

Given a factory wipe is a common troubleshooting step, it's kind of obvious why it would leave the SD card alone.

Frankly, this whole thing strikes me as incredibly overblown.

[Janteh]

This goes for any electronic device that stores data. Even then it can be hard to completely erase your data, as recovery tools are always available.