Android users making the jump to Android 10 can expect to find lots of features. Some enhancements of old features they have used and are already familiar with. Some new features.
Among the old features that have been enhanced with Android’s latest update are emoji, the most effective tools of communication for the modern-day texter.
236 new emoji await users.
Among them are reworks of already-existing emoji made to bring them in tune with the visual representation on other platforms like Apple’s iOS, to create some sense of uniformity for users communicating cross-platform. Those in the know will confirm that the way some emoji are represented on Android devices does vary in a number of instances to how they are viewed on iPhones.
Also being reworked are emoji that depict various forms of gender representation with the focus being placed on gender neutrality. In future, for example, should you just want to add a facepalm emoji to your message, you will have the option to pick an emoji representing that action that is not necessarily representative of the male or female genders as is the case currently.
In addition to platform uniformity and correctly depicting gender neutrality, there are also new emoji to make sure all races are well accommodated in areas where that wasn’t so with the skin tones of the current emoji. 71 new hand-holding emoji have made their way to Android “allowing for the representation of interracial couples on Android for the first time”.
Other changes include new accessibility-focused emoji, new shape emoji and 6 new flag emoji for Kosovo and several island nation-states.
Those that have already upgraded to Android 10 can access the new emoji by making sure that they have the latest version of Google’s keyboard app, Gboard, installed.
It is important to note that these new emoji won’t be available on the default keyboard that ships with Samsung (developed by Samsung itself). This is because “Samsung has its own emoji set which is updated on a separate schedule to Google’s Android emoji updates.” The same is the case with the emoji on applications like WhatsApp.
