Emo-what?
Emoji are picture characters that are very popular in the Japanese mobile market. One analyst even specifically cited the lack Emoji support as one of the factors contributing to slow sales in the Japan market…crazy, but true!
Originally meaning pictograph, the word literally means e “picture” + moji “letter”. The characters are used much like emoticons elsewhere, but a wider range is provided, and the icons are standardised and built into the handsets.
I read a blog recently on how to get the set of Emoji icons for the iPhone for free, so I thought I would share that…
How do I get my hands on these?
Simple, just follow the instructions below. Beware though that these only work from iPhone to iPhone, so people with other handsets will not benefit from this 🙁
1. Check your iPhone has firmware 2.2 or 2.2.1
2. Download the ‘Spell Number‘ app from the App Store.
3. Launch Speel Number and enter the following code 91929394.59.
4. Close the app without doing anything else.
5. Open Settings > General > Keyboard > International Keyboards >Japanese > Turn the Emoji “ON”
6. Now when you start writing a text message there should be a little globe there. Clicking on this globe opens up the Emoji icons.
There’s lots of icons on there (461 apparently), so enjoy!