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Emoji

There has been quite the buzz around the iPhone world with the introduction of emoji enabling applications in the US App Store.  The first app to enable emoji was FrostyPlace (Link opens iTunes).   The biggest problem came with the iPhone OS 2.2.1 update that broke the hidden feature of this app for anyone who hadn’t enabled it.  FrostyPlace promised to get an app into the App Store to fix this but has yet to deliver.  Since that time, several other developers have taken it upon themselves to fill the void.  We used Typing Genius (Link opens iTunes) to enable emoji and it worked like a dream.  To follow suit, download Typing Genius, run the app, close it, go to the settings app, tap general, tap keyboard, then international keyboards, japanese, and then turn on emoji.  Seems like a lot, but it’s really easy and adds some cool features to your keyboard.

What is emoji?  It’s a Japanese character set that’s very much like emoticons and is a standard among japanese phones.  That being a japanese standard, it’s not enabled on american phones and there are strict requirements for it to work.  First, it only works on iPhones or iPod Touches.  Second, the both mobile devices must be running 2.2 or later.  Both devices don’t need to have emoji enabled to see the messages, but it’s definitely something that most users will want after they see the characters.  The catch, if you send a text with emoji to another iPhone user that isn’t up to the latest firmware, it will not go through.  They will receive nothing and you won’t find out if they liked your smiley face.

Anyways, take a look at the gallery and see what is offered with emoji.  It’s stupid but playful and I can’t wait to mess with my wife. ;)