The latest Unicode 9.0 is officially here, adding a slew of new characters, scripts, symbols and emoji to spice up your conversations.
We already knew the Unicode 9 goodies were set to launch on June 21 and it's good to see that no delays ensued. The latest version now offers 7,500 new characters, 19 symbols for the new 4K TV standard, six new scripts, and 72 new emoji.
The new scripts and characters now support lesser-known languages such as Nepal Bhasa (a language of Nepal), Osage (a Native American language), Fulani (an African language) and more, as the Unicode Blog announcement notes.
The new emoji, meanwhile, include bacon, selfie, face palm, avocado, pregnant woman, half kiwi, baguette, lizard and many more. You won't find any rifle emoji, however, as Apple reportedly lobbied to remove it from this year's list of emoji candidates.
The new emoji will allow for more colorful conversations and more means of expression, adding to the growing trend of "emojifying" communication. Emoji have become so popular, in fact, that we even have a Bible translated to emoji so millennials would find it more appealing (the new face palm emoji might come in handy here).
The rolling on the floor laughing (ROFL) emoji is also in the mix with Unicode 9, as are clinking glasses, a person doing a cartwheel, a hand gesture emoji with the index and middle fingers crossed, a drooling face and many more. To see what other emoji are included in the new Unicode version, check out the full list.
Keep in mind, however, that although the latest Unicode 9.0 version is out, it will still be a while to see those new characters, symbols and emoji on devices. Apple, Google and Microsoft need to add them in their future software updates to make them available for users.
It shouldn't be too long, though, as the new emoji are expected to hit the scene this summer with Google's Android N and Microsoft's Windows 10 Anniversary Update. When it comes to iOS, users might have to wait until the final iOS 10 release this fall, as the latest iOS 10 beta doesn't include the Unicode additions.
With the latest batch of characters, the Unicode Standard now has 128,172 characters in total and it will surely grow even further in the future. This trend is showing no signs of dying down and emoji are a huge part of today's conversations, so more options are always welcome.
Are you excited about the new emoji? Which one do you like best?
