Swype App Makes Texting on Android Phones a Breeze

by Matt Evans on June 24, 2010 at 04:30 PM

Likely inspired by the masses of people obsessed with texting, Cliff Kushler, co-inventor of T9, has one-upped himself with the release of Swype, a text-entry app now available on Android phones. Appropriately named, Swype gives you the power to swipe words into existence instead of frantically pecking at your touchscreen. With only a single instance of finger-to-screen contact, you tap the first letter of the word, then glide over to the next letter and then the next, and release your finger when a word is complete.

The easy part is indeed the swiping, which works as well as advertised. However, adjusting to a new typing system's quirks (and Swype is chock full of them) is tricky. Swiping double letters, for instance, is hardly intuitive. Halting mid-swipe over the letter that needs to be doubled only kills Swype's chances of recognizing the word you are trying to type. Instead, you loop around the letter, informing Swype that you intend it to be doubled.

Once you've adjusted to the oddities, though, it's easy to forget that Swype is a third-party app, as it becomes so ingrained in the text-input aspects of the phone. The efficiency boost caused by Swype is hard to deny, and it's difficult to go back to any other method of text entry. The time it took to send a regular message was far shorter than it is with either T9 or multi-tap. Swype drastically outperformed both methods, and wrongly guessed our word of choice only a couple of times. Usually, unrecognized words were either slang or names. To fix this, tap in all of your favorite obscenities and proper nouns, and press the spacebar. Voila, your texting vocab just increased. Overall, given our sporadic scribblings, we forgave Swype for its only occasionally failed, yet always heroic, attempts at deciphering our chicken scratch.

The biggest downside, currently, is getting the app installed on your phone, as it is only available as a beta version from the Swype website. It takes far too much time to get the app up and running plus adjusting all of the settings to fit your needs. For now, it's a tedious download and install. Once the app is officially available via the Android Market, the process should prove far easier.

So, kudos to an app that cuts down on taps per text, and lets us shoot off even more nonsensically abbreviated messages.

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Tags: android, AndroidApp, features, handson, mobile, review, smartphone, swype, t9, texting, top

Comments

skaboneJun 24th 2010 5:18PM

Neutral

its not that hard to install, it takes all of maybe 5 minutes to do. they even have a step by step guide of how to install it on the swype site.

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wildgirlJun 25th 2010 2:29PM

Neutral

I agree...not hard at all. The instructions are easy to follow and I actually did it the first time without even using them. I only discovered the instructions AFTER I installed it. And sure, there's a learning curve, but when isn't there with something new? As far as double letters...it becomes second nature after one day of using Swype.

I can't live without my Swype--there's a reason that phones are starting to come with it pre-installed!!

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drummerdpAug 9th 2010 1:26PM

Neutral

How do I get it...I go on the site but I can't find it.

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Matt EvansAug 9th 2010 1:37PM

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@drummerdp

The beta is closed for now, but you can sign up here to be notified when it reopens or comes out of its beta stage: http://beta.swype.com

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whatheJun 25th 2010 2:57PM

Neutral

does it work with any Asian language?

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GeoffJun 25th 2010 3:40PM

Neutral

Love it...works great on my G1. Gonna install it on my wifes My Touch.

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ttoshascott08Jun 25th 2010 4:36PM

Neutral

they also have one called shapewriter and its the same app..

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mobassnixJun 25th 2010 4:59PM

Neutral

Installed it on my Hero, but now can't find it! Help!!!

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Matt EvansJun 25th 2010 5:39PM

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You should be able to "access" it, or rather make it your default text-input by holding down (long tap) in the composition box, which with bring up input method: switch from Touch Input to Swype. Let me know if that works.

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strider_mt2kJun 28th 2010 9:03AM

Neutral

Been rocking Swype on my i920 Omnia 2 (WinMo) for a few months now, and I have to say that it's the best method I've used to date.

My wife was more reluctant to use it but now she's hooked too.

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ArmandoJul 7th 2010 2:08AM

Neutral

Ok so i just got swype for my phone which is a mytouch and im trying to swype and every time i try to do a word it won't let me the key board perimeter flashes and a little noise goes off it keeps doing that for every thing i do on the key board please help me im only 15 so ya

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wbcreddragonJul 10th 2010 6:37PM

Neutral

why is swype so hard to get? i want to pay for it but don't find any shopping carts with it. i used to have it, but the demo expired and now i can't get full version anywhere.

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