Animated Emoji wars heat up as Samsung partners with Disney on AR Emoji

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

In case you missed it, animating yourself as various AR (Augmented Reality) Emoji characters is now as important as the specs, camera functionality and design of today's flagship phones.

The gauntlet was thrown down by Apple last year when it made Animoji a key feature of the iPhone X. Being able to talk and match facial expressions with various emoji animals was the sexy feature for one hot minute and led to a short deluge of TV ads and Animoji Karaoke videos.

Apple's Animoji did resonate with many users, although I'm not sure if they were a defining feature for people to consider purchasing the iPhone X.

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Google finally gets the cheeseburger right in Android 8.1

One of the weird, quirky tech stories that hit us recently was the idea that Google didn’t know how a cheeseburger looks like with the incorrect depiction of the food item as an emoji. The cheese it was seen placed at the bottom of the bun instead of the burger. It even caught the attention of Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who promised to look into the “issue.” And true enough, he did.  Android 8.1 already has a “proper” cheeseburger emoji heading our way. But that wasn’t before the company made fun of itself and made an “Android Burger” IRL.

Source: The Verge

Hundreds of new emoji coming to iPhone and iPad

Emoji have become the preferred way to quickly communicate ideas and now iOS is making giving users more precise options with hundreds of new emoji. 

Hundreds of new emoji, including more emotive smiley faces, gender-neutral characters, clothing options, food types, animals, mythical creatures and more, are coming to iPhone and iPad with iOS 11.1.

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The Emoji Movie partners with popular apps to celebrate World Emoji Day!

 

Happy World Emoji Day! On July 17th we're celebrating the commonly used form of communication. When you think about it, emojis know no boundaries. It crosses borders and languages. So, why not have something fun on a Monday to celebrate? Sony Pictures Animation is joining in the fun by orchestrating a series of events and appearances.

"Emojis help us express ourselves in ways we don't have time to express, or don't have the forethought to express, or are afraid to express -- or don't have the language to express," said Tony Leondis, co-writer/director of The Emoji Movie (coming to theatres July 28).  "It's perfectly fitting for everyone around the world to celebrate World Emoji Day, because emojis really do bring us all closer together - in this world of technology, the human heart has found a way to connect."

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