One of the features of the iPhone 2.2 firmware released weeks ago, was the provision of Emoji emoticons. This is like those emoticons we get on mobile phones, but the Japanese have them done in more varieties than just the

However, Apple somewhat only allowed the use of Emoji emoticons for iPhones released in Japan, even though the image sets are in all 2.2 firmware. So for people outside Japan who wants to get access to the Emoji emoticons, they either had to jailbreak it or do this using a work-around with vCard.

Now, a new RSS reader app for a Traditional Chinese website – Frostyplace.com – made enabling the Emoji emoticons so much easier, though it costs US$0.99 to get the app. To get Emoji emoticons, just load the app, click on a few of the Chinese feed. Play around the app before going back to the iPhone’s Setting page. Navigate to the General section, then go to Keyboard. Within International Keyboards, look for Japanese and you should have the option to enable Emoji. If not, go play around with the FrostyPlace app for a bit more.

After which remove the app, and you can access Emoji Emoticons when you click on the globe icon on the keypad beside the space-bar. There are 5 different types with multiple pages of emoticons to look for. With big fingers like me, scrolling through the different pages might be an issue as you will tend to hit the emoticons when you swipe across the keypad. That aside, you can start putting those smilies and fancy emoticons in your messages.

Thanks to both Prillo and iJustine for this tip.

update – from Chris Prillo again, the new 2.2.1 software update broke the current version of FrostyPlace ability to give you Emoji, so wait for the update before you purchase it.

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