These Emoji Kitchen cases are the perfect playful Pixel accessory

Otterbox has decided that the popular Gboard Emoji Kitchen should be on a case – and we kind of agree with them.

What makes this different from any other Pixel case so far?

As far as we can tell, Otterbox’s Emoji Kitchen cases are the first third-party cases that use Google’s own intellectual property – beyond the “G” logo – as a key selling point. While this practice is common for lots of other popular IPs, this is quite rare for Google to do so with a software add-on. It’s easy to get cases that are “Made for Google,” but getting cases that are made for Pixel and with another Google IP thrown in is incredibly rare. These are licensed for the Pixel 8a, which is the cheapest Google phone release for the year.

The cases are based on the clear Otterbox React case, but here, they have some Emoji Kitchen creations embossed inside. You have two slight variations to choose from:

• Silly Collage
• Quirky Collage

The differences between the two Emoji Kitchen case choices are not huge but still notable. There are goofy food emojis mixed with plants and animals with 9 total on the rear of each case. Personally, I think the “hotdog turtle” makes the Silly Collage case a better choice, but I can see the appeal of the “bread cat” that is only on the “Quirky Collage” case.

• The best cases to use with your Pixel 8a [Video]

All of the emojis are printed inside the case. That means that as long as you don’t regularly remove the case from your phone, they shouldn’t fade or scuff the longer you use your phone or abuse the case.

It’s fully compatible with the Pixel stand and other wireless chargers too – which is super important on the Pixel 8a. Otterbox often has lots of bulky cases, but this is slimmer form of protection that doesn’t add much bulk or unnecessary mass to the mid-sized Pixel 8a. It plays nicely with screen protectors but could be a little better. The display lip is quite short, so a screen protector is essential.

Fusing Emoji Kitchen with a clear case is, in my opinion, the perfect combination of Google’s best attributes – playful software and great, affordable hardware. I wish Otterbox had provided a crib sheet on how to make each of the Emoji Kitchen stickers, because I spent a long time trying to replicate all 18.

The details on each of the emoji fusions is excellent. You can see the textures and layers that help each emoji stand out. Genuinely, they look like stickers – which I guess is the whole point!

Because each emoji has been lifted right from the Emoji Kitchen section of Gboard, there’s no real bait-and-switch with designs that you couldn’t replicate yourself on your Android phone. That said, while I have done my best, I still couldn’t exactly replicate the “blue thumbs up” emoji. Instead, I managed to combine two that I thought were close enough. If you use Gboard and want to create these for yourself, then the recipes for each case are listed below – in no particular order:

Otterbox needs to make this case for more Pixel smartphones. If the company does, I’m almost certain that it will be a very popular product. We’ve seen a lot more premium case makers jump on the Pixel bandwagon in recent years including Peak Design, Mous, Bellroy, and way more. While I wouldn’t say that Otterbox’s Emoji Kitchen case is “premium” in the traditional sense, it is still a great lightweight case for the Pixel 8a that offers something unique in the case space.

Customization would be another great option for future releases – especially as there are thousands of Emoji Kitchen combinations to choose from. The possibilities for future iterations are endless. Imagine creating your own personalized case with your favorite emoji mashups! The level of customization this could offer would be a major win for Pixel users who crave a truly unique way to express themselves with a protective layer on their phone.

This is an expensive case at $49.95 in the US. For some reason, it is much cheaper in the UK at just £20.99, too, which makes the pricing model all the more confusing. That said, this is one of the best Android extensions in accessory form that you can pick up. Is the first Emoji Kitchen case it worth it? That decision is up to you, but we hope to see more accessories like this in the future.

• Get the Otterbox React for Pixel 8a

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