Missed the chance to get Frostyplace when it was offered for free? Or, did you upgrade to firmware 2.2.1 only to find out that you can’t use the Frostyplace trick anymore?
Erica Sadun of Ars Technica submitted Freemoji to the App Store, hoping to give everyone a free alternative to enabling the much sought-after feature, but it was denied immediately by the iPhone Developer Program, citing violation of Section 3.3.4 of the iPhone SDK. Freemoji violated the golden rule of accessing data outside of the application’s “sandbox”. The sandbox mentioned here is a set of fine-grained controls that are imposed to limit an application’s access to files, preferences, network resources, hardware and etc. As well all know by now, Apple sets a very strict rule as to what an iPhone application can and cannot do.
I scanned the Ars Technica comments thread and found mention of an app called Typing Genius – Get Emoji that is said to enable Emoji icons, even if you have upgraded to firmware 2.2.1. I am not sure how an app like this, with Get Emoji in its title, managed to slip thru the App Store’s verification process. Regardless, if the claim is true, then owners with the latest firmware can fret no more. Typing Genius – Get Emoji looks to be a better alternative to most of us English-speaking crowd when compared to Frostyplace and warrants the $0.99 investment.
At this moment, user reviews posted in the iTunes Store did not indicate if Typing Genius – Get Emoji really does what it claims – enable Emoji support. The author does mention the claim in the application’s description. I would love to try it out and report this to the world, but I have already upgraded my iPod touch 2G to firmware 2.2.1. I’ll leave it up to you guys, my readers to verify this claim.
I’d appreciate your report in the comments area if you tried it and have Emoji enabled for your device. Thanks!
UPDATE: Mattie just buzzed over at the imobForums to inform that Typing Genius – Get Emoji does indeed enable Emoji for his wife’s device which is running firmware 2.2.1. Great news indeed!
February 5th, 2009 at 12:07 am
Dear Onemoretap.com,
Every user can now enjoy emoji at a low price of $0.99 (even OS 2.2.1)!
We are excited to announce that Typing Genius version 1.1.1 is the FIRST app to enable emoji for OS 2.2.1. We are not able to explicitly call out this feature on iTunes so we need your help to spread the good news! Here are some compelling reasons why your readers will like Typing Genius:
• First app to truely unlock emoji for all versions of iPhone and iPod Touch (including OS 2.2.1)
• Unlocks emoji with the most simple steps. Simply launch the app and thats it! (Unlike other competition such as FrostyPlace, you have to open the app for up to 5 minutes before emoji is unlocked, if you are lucky)
• Priced competitively. Lowest possible price in the App Store at $0.99 (vs competition Touch Dial Emoji – $3.99).
• In addition to being able to unlock emoji, all the useful typing tips and training exercises will still be included in this $0.99 version.
We hope more users can enjoy using emoji with their devices and we believe Typing Genius is the absolute best bargain one can get right now.
Below are some links with the media saying how brilliant Typing Genius is. Now it has gotten better with half the price!
ArsTechnica
Apple Insider
CNET
AppCraver
148Apps
iTunesAppReview
Thanks,
Gary
www.TypingGenius.com
February 13th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
There are four other ways to also enable Emoji on iPhone firmware 2.2.*, three of which are free:
- Buy and install the FrostyPlace app from the App Store and play around with it for a while (as discovered by iJustine)
- Jailbreak the iPhone and use Cydia to install the ‘Emoji’ package from the iSpazio repository
- Jailbreak the iPhone, SSH into it, and edit a Preference List file
- Use the easter egg in the free Spell Number application to enable the new character set
All four of these methods have been detailed here:
http://www.geekology.co.za/blo…es-outside-of-japan/
February 14th, 2009 at 2:19 am
Sorry, I see the link in my last comment was truncated. It should have been:
http://www.geekology.co.za/blog/2009/02/enable-emoji-characters-on-iphones-outside-of-japan/
(without the spaces)
February 24th, 2009 at 12:35 am
It Works for me! Thanks onemoretap.com!
February 24th, 2009 at 12:45 am
Glad you got it working, UnNamed…