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Emoji on android
- Thread starter maflynn
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No it is not proprietary to iOS--Apple doesn't even own emoji. I think it was even Google who first proposed adding them to the unicode standard.
On my Nexus 4 I have several ways to use emoji:
1.) I installed the emoji keyboard. This let's me type them anywhere.
2.) Whatsapp Messenger app. This let's me use them inside the app--no emoji keyboard needed.
3.) Handcent SMS app. Similar to Whatsapp--can use without an emoji keyboard.
That said all of the options above are a little bit more cumbersome than on iOS. In whatsapp, for example, I have to tap an icon at the top of the screen to open up the emoji chooser. And then, after I tap one, it closes the chooser. So it is a pain to do multiple emoji's in a row.
Handcent is a little better once you configure it (else you have to go through a few steps to get to the emoji characters). But once you have them up it is very similar to iOS--and it does not close after tapping one emoji.
The emoji keyboard can work anywhere. For normal typing though I think it kinda sucks. In fact I'd rather it not try to do alphanumeric characters at all and simple do emoji. But at least you can type words and emoji with the same keyboard.
Finally, I am going to see about adding some shortcuts for common sets of emoji that I would use, say with my girlfriend. (Not that she would like that idea lol.)
Mike
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Yes absolutely.
If you just use the stock Messaging app you will get them "androidized" which I find horrible (what the heck was google thinking with that one?). By androidized they come over looking like alien characters, not standard emoji. Or, worse, don't come at all--or just boxes.
Michael
Handcent displays them fine. I sent every emoji in the smiley category and all of them showed up as they were supposed to--just like they were when I sent them from my iPhone 4S.
The default messaging app will not do that. It only supports a sub-set of the emoji characters. Even the ones it does support look like crap since they all have that alien character look. Google really needs to change that on the OS level.
Michael
To each their own. I hated the stock Messaging app. It can't even do pop-up replies. I need that. And without (normal) emoji support it was game-over for that thing.
Mike
I already mentioned that you should not use the stock Messaging app if you want to use emoji. Handcent is free. No problem with emoji.
Mike
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That does look a lot better! Things like this make me glad you can swap out what you don't like on android.
If I used emoji enough that would make me switch.
