I think emojis are weird and fascinating. I don’t know if it enhances the written language or completes it. However, to me, emoji’s place is firmly in the domain of informal communication and smartphones. Maybe tablets. But, that’s it. And they can be fun.
To celebrate World Emoji Day, Apple is revealing the newest emoji designs. These new additions to the emoji vocabulary are set to be released this fall when the company releases the new update for the iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch this fall.
The new emoji includes bubble tea, pinched fingers, boomerang, transgender symbol, dodo, beaver, pinata, nesting doll, coin, anatomical heart, lungs, ninja, and tamale.
Honestly, I thought the emoji library already has all these. With all these new additions, I hope that Apple adds an emoji search function to the iOS keyboard (a feature that Android has) or suggest more emojis as we type because the selection is getting too crowded to be useful.
I use less emojis on the iPhone than when I was on Android because of that.
In addition to emojis, iPhones also has Memojis. And I think it is the only smartphone that still has, let alone still developing, 3D avatars. Remember when all three major game consoles had those? The idea only lasted for a few generations.
Anyway, as we know from its WWDC keynote this year, we are getting more ways to express ourselves on the iPhone, in stylised cartoon form, with new customisations options.
This comes in the form of 11 new hairstyles, face coverings, 19 new headwear styles, and three new Memoji stickers. The numbers are not big, but the diversity of options is a welcomed addition. Although I still don’t think I’ll use those Memoji Stickers much. Maybe the fist bump. Maybe.
New facial and muscle structures will also make Memojis more expressive. Frankly, Memoji’s current range of expressions feels limited. Just about the only fun expression is sticking the tongue out. So, I look forward to playing around with this one.
Azizul Rahman Ismail 