Question about Emojis

[intelli78]

I was recently introduced to Emojis, but there's still something I'm unclear about: are they standardized across handsets? Meaning, if I send Emojis to someone else, are they going to see the exact same picture I sent? Or do different phones/carriers have different images for each Emoji?

I can see the value of Emojis if they are standardized. As dumb as it sounds, you can have big miscommunications with people if your chat/SMS clients display the same emoticons differently. Sometimes the visual representation of an emoticon like : - / can look very different across platforms and evoke a different feeling. So, if Emojis standardize this, I understand their appeal. If they don't, I guess I don't really understand what they add beyond regular emoticons.

Anybody want to clear this up for me? I think this is a sign of getting old, hahaha.

[heedpantsnow]

If you use your iPhone to send Emojis to an Android user, they most likely will not see anything or will see random special characters.  Yes, most of their strength lies in sending them iPhone to iPhone, Android to Android, etc.  I have no idea what Windows Phone 8 does with them, though.

[intelli78]

If you use your iPhone to send Emojis to an Android user, they most likely will not see anything or will see random special characters.  Yes, most of their strength lies in sending them iPhone to iPhone, Android to Android, etc.  I have no idea what Windows Phone 8 does with them, though.

Thanks for the info. Huh. It really seems to me that the next big step for emoticons is cross-platform standardization. That would really add value. Guess I won't be using Emojis.

[tuxsavvy]

You could, alternatively send emoji as pictures or something. That way it will never get mistaken on the other side of the fence. Trouble is the cost of sending MMS along with the fact if the receiver will check the MMS photo that you sent or not and where to know that you have appropriately placed the emoji.