Android smartphone users can now send emojis during phone calls

Google has introduced a new feature for Android smartphones: users can now send animated emoji during phone calls.

According to the 9to5Google portal, the Audio Emoji feature appears in the new version of the proprietary Google Phone dialer. The update will most likely arrive to users in the coming weeks. The innovation involves the use of audiovisual effects corresponding to six different emoji: applause, laughter, firecracker, sadness, excrement and drum. The developers seem to believe that this will add interactivity to the phone conversation process and make it more varied and fun.

The developers are probably trying to expand the communication capabilities of users by introducing into the phone application an analogue of a “soundpad”, used, for example, during streaming to play certain sound effects. However, to avoid overuse and potential disruption of communication, limits on how often the Audio Emoji feature can be used were introduced during development.

The authors of 9to5Google consider the innovation to be strange and not very useful.