How do I disable all emoticons on incoming/outgoing text messages? I just received a couple of text messages from a friend. 

The first message read
"Type in this expression exactly, or the script will not work."

The second message read "Equals symbol, emoticon, five, emoticon, closing parenthesis, emoticon"



I later found out that he actually sent "=x-(5:O)&lt;3" ("Equals symbol, x, minus symbol, opening parenthesis, five, colon, capital o, closing parenthesis, less than symbol, three")

I have noticed that my outgoing texts have the same problem.

I have searched the internet for solutions, but there is conflicting information about whether or not the emoticons are sent over the internet as text or as images.  See

Some say that smileys are not ordinary characters and are converted into MMS before sending

and

Others think they are just sent as it is and phone translates them later

Furthermore, none of the proposed solutions on the internet have worked for me.

I have 2 questions:

How do I disable all emoticons on incoming text messages?

How do I disable all emoticons on outgoing text messages?
You can install a 3rd party SMS app called Handcent Next SMS which provides the option to disable emoticons on all (incoming/outgoing) sms.  

Install the app &rarr; Settings (inside app) &rarr; Custom style &rarr; Conversation settings &rarr; Disable&nbsp;smileys  

 
Click to enlarge  



Alternatively if you're on rooted android, you can recompile your Samsung Stock-Messages app (SecMmsCandy.apk) by deleting all the supporting pre-defined resource files and install back the modded version onto the phone although I'm not sure if it's such a good idea and most probably won't work, too. But if you're feeling adventurous here's the path
/system/priv-app/SecMms_Candy/SecMms_Candy.apk  


Click to enlarge