“Samsung KNOX is unmatched in its ability to deliver trusted mobile security across an all-encompassing robust platform,” said Dr. Injong Rhee, Executive Vice President and Head of R&D, Software and Services, Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. “Our market leadership, innovative technology and worldwide government certification is second to none, and we look forward to giving more people the opportunity to operate mobility with complete safety.”

By securing the critical ISCCC certification, Samsung will have a stronger foothold to garner mobile device contracts with China’s regulated industries – including government authorities, ministries and finance. The mobile devices used for testing were the Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note5. Now, government officials and public sector workers will be able to enjoy the built-in protection provided by these Galaxy devices, from the moment the device is turned on.

ANSSI is France’s national service in charge of information security. The testing was done with Samsung KNOX Workspace 2.3, and this first evaluation is focused on the dynamic partitioning provided by KNOX Workspace. Samsung is working closely with ANSSI to allow companies to be provided integrated solution meeting stringent security standards with Samsung’s secure device. Receiving the first level security certification (CSPN) differentiates Samsung’s mobile devices within France.

As a global leader driving enterprise mobility, Samsung offers enterprise and regulated customers the flexibility of Android, the security of KNOX and partnerships that cannot be matched by any other mobile device provider. Samsung has received several mobile security certifications, including the U.S. Department of Defense, UK Communications and Electronics Security Group and other governments such as Finland and Russia.

For more information, visit: www.samsungknox.com/en/security-certifications.

It was around 2010 that Samsung began to actively design emojis specifically for the company’s mobile devices. Its more recent efforts have placed a greater emphasis on reflecting consumers’ evolving communication habits in its devices. The Galaxy S6 edge+, released in August, introduced an enhanced People edge, a device-exclusive function that enables users to send messages, emails and emojis. Likewise, the Gear S2 smartwatch gives consumers the option to reply to messages with emojis.

There’s an emoji to represent nearly any mood, product or activity one can think of. But more than just cute characters, this ever-expanding collection of ideograms has come to be one of the most widely used forms of communication throughout the world, surpassing both language and generational barriers. Restoring the facial expressions and body language that we make in person but not online, emojis are quickly transforming the way we as humans interact in a digital world that is becoming more and more emotionally expressive and visually driven. The impact is so far-reaching, in fact, that the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2015 is not a word at all—it’s Face with Tears of Joy, the most widely used emoji this year.

The History of the Emoji

The emoji was not born overnight. In fact, its predecessor, the emoticon, paved the way for its entry into the digital communication space. Scott Fahlman, a research professor at Carnegie Mellon University, was the first documented person to use the emoticons and in 1982, when he suggested that they be used to express emotion. Almost two decades later in 1999, Shigetaka Kurita, an employee at Japanese mobile service provider NTT DoCoMo, took the emoticon a step further. Inspired by Chinese characters and manga, Japanese comics, he developed the first emoji prototypes in an effort to deliver the most amount of information as possible in a limited screen space.

As the emoji quickly gained admiration across the globe, communications and technology companies began to develop their own designs. However, when users with differing devices attempted to send emojis to one another, the ideograms appeared as squares because they were not supported by the receiving devices’ operating systems. That’s when Unicode Consortium stepped in.

As the non-profit organization that develops and maintains one of the major international text standards in computing, the Unicode Consortium created a global standard for coding emojis across operating systems in 2010. Most recently, the consortium approved a number of new emojis and emoji modifiers as part of Unicode 8.0 earlier this June in response to the growing demand for more current designs. Now, even though these specific emojis look slightly different across platforms, they can still be easily understood by the receiving user, regardless of their device’s operating system.

Appealing to Everyone

With such developments taking place, Samsung’s UX design team works relentlessly to continuously expand their suite of 1,200-plus emojis, all the while conveying the company’s unique identity in a variety of facial expressions, animals, buildings and signs. And, while many apps, both paid and unpaid, also offer an eye-catching but limited selection of emojis, Samsung’s suite—which is designed entirely by the company itself—can be accessed directly from the device’s keyboard and used in all the device’s services and applications when a bit of variation is desired.

So what makes Samsung’s emojis different from the others?

“We place a great amount of focus on the actual design of the emojis to add a sense of fun to Samsung’s devices,” notes UX Designer Erin Jung. “One way we do that is by increasing the volume of the details. The smiling face, for example, may have larger eyes while the anxious-looking face might have a larger bead of sweat.”

These uniquely Samsung facial expressions typically transcend national, religious and political boundaries—a necessary component of the company’s designs. Even when the emojis introduce a style distinctive to Samsung, it is essential to create images that can be understood by millions of smartphone users around the globe, a fairly arduous task considering that many emojis aren’t always interpreted in the same way.

Another one of Samsung’s UX designers, July Baek, explains, “We are constantly conducting research during the design process to ensure that the emojis can be understood by all, regardless of nationality or age, while adhering to the global standards. Also, we have to keep up with current design trends.”

In addition to these obstacles, there are other limitations that make the design process challenging, like the amount of space the designers have to work with—a small square of 108 by 108 pixels. The limited area makes it particularly challenging when designing action emojis, which must be the same size of facial expressions but usually require more detail to properly illustrate the action. Moreover, creating a design that appeals to everyone is just as difficult.

“In the case of animals, the design cannot simply be cute or realistic,” says UX Designer Boeun Song. “Instead, we have to strike a fine balance between the two so that the final Samsung emoji designs will be admired as widely as possible.”

Users can utilize Samsung’s unique emoji suite by holding down the setting icon on the keyboard.

Getting Technical

Once a design is settled on, the designers work on individual graphics as they appear on actual screens. The designers must take into account how the emojis appear next to text and how the human eye perceives them.

“To eliminate the visual discomfort that can occur when two-dimensional and three-dimensional designs are placed next to one another, we unify the angles and directions of light, composition and shading for each emoji so that they can easily be browsed by users,” Jung elaborates.

Finally, the completed design is applied using the same type of code as the general font on the device so as to take up as little storage space as possible. In other words, the size of the emoji matches the size of the expressed font.

The designers hope to soon implement a technology that allows for the adjustment of the size of the emojis exposed on the screen so that the user’s message, intended emotion and tone of voice are more accurately conveyed. Additionally, they hope that consumers will enjoy Samsung’s unique emoji designs so much, it will inspire them to choose Samsung devices.

“We really like to people-watch. We look at people as they go about their daily lives and try to replicate their facial expressions and gestures in our emoji designs,” says UX Designer Baek. “Human expression has no limits, and we hope to continue to illustrate this through our work.”

The importance of the emoji to modern language is clear. It is a necessary solution for expressing emotion and conveying meaning in an era where written language is limited in doing so. And, just as language evolves over time, it is certain that the emoji will transform, too, further developing the way humanity connects and interacts.

(From left) UX Designer Boeun Song, Erin Jung and July Baek

After much anticipation, the Samsung Gear S2 has finally hit shelves across the world and has already garnered a great deal of attention, thanks to its innovative rotating bezel, convenient connectivity features and stylish appearance. But how does one get the most out of their brand new Gear S2? Check out these tutorials to find out.

How to Set Up

Now that you’ve got your hands on the Gear S2, you first need to pair it with your smartphone to take advantage of all its fun and useful features.

1. Download the Samsung Gear app from the Galaxy Apps store if you’re using a Samsung device, or from Google Play if you’re using a non-Samsung Android phone.
2. Access the Samsung Gear app on your mobile device.
3. Tap Connect to Gear.
4. Select Gear S2 from the Select your Gear
5. Confirm your passkey on the Bluetooth pairing request alert by tapping OK.
6. Agree to all terms and conditions by ticking the boxes and tap Done.
7. In the Manage notifications menu, choose the notifications that you want to appear on the Gear S2.

How to Get in Touch

Your Gear S2 is set up and ready to go. Easy, right? You can now receive, access and send messages quickly and conveniently, right from your wrist.

1. From the home screen on your Gear S2, turn the bezel one notch to the left to access notifications.
2. Tap the number of notifications received.
3. Turn the bezel to the right to browse received messages.
4. Tap a message to read it in its entirety, and turn the bezel to scroll.
5. To send a quick reply, tap Reply.

a. To send a pre-set message, turn the bezel to browse and tap to select your preferred message.
b. To reply with a voice note, tap the microphone icon, record your voice note and send.
c. To send an emoji, tap the smile icon and turn the bezel to browse emojis. Tap to select and send.
d. To reply with a text message, tap the keyboard icon, type your message and tap the send icon.

How to Customize

Whether you want your Gear S2 to match your #OOTD every day, or you prefer to stick with the same ol’ look for weeks, the watch face of the Gear S2 can be customized as often or as little as you’d like, straight from the device.

How to Get a New Look

The Gear S2 comes with two sizes of wrist straps, large and small, which can also be mixed and matched to customize the length. Samsung has also partnered up with a number of designers and brands to offer an eclectic selection of wrist bands, with a style for just about everyone.
(For video tutorial on how to replace bands for the Gear S2 Classic, click here.)

Now that you’re acquainted with the Gear S2, take some time to explore the settings and features that make it uniquely Samsung, and stay tuned for more tutorials to come!

1. To remove bands from the Gear S2, press the latches where the bands meet the case body and slide down to release.
2. Replace the new bands by sliding upward until they snap into place.
3. Tap and hold the home screen.
4. Turn the bezel to browse watch faces. Tap to select.
5. To customize your preferred watch face (when available), tap Stylize.
6. Navigate customization options using the bezel and by swiping left to change the dial, hands and/or shortcuts. Then, tap OK.