One of the most talked about apps around lately seems to be Swype.  I have seen it mentioned all over the Internet, including here on JAMM.  The problem was, as much hype as there was over Swype, it did not seem to be available anywhere.  But maybe I am getting a bit ahead of myself.

Swype is a soft input panel (SIP), also known as an onscreen keyboard.  Like ShapeWriter, Swype relies on some of the latest soft input technology, allowing you to draw a line connecting the letters in the word you want to type.  A powerful algorithm then translates the line you drew into a word. Really, pretty cool stuff.

Like I said, though, until recently, Swype has seen an awful lot of publicity, but not a lot of face time.  It was only officially available for one or two devices, and even the unofficial version had pretty limited compatibility.

Finally, at long last, I received an email yesterday notifying me that I could finally jump onto the Swype bandwagon.  It seems that Swype for Android is now available as a public beta, so any Android users can check it out.   Here is the full text of the announcement:

Thanks for being part of our beta. Activate the link below to download the Swype Beta Installer to your device. By downloading the Swype Installer you agree to Swype’s Terms and Conditions.

https://beta.swype.com/android/get/

If you have problems or questions check the Swype forum to see what others are saying or feel free to send us an email at androidbeta@swype.com. We’ll get to it when we can.

Thanks!
The Swype Team

Not much there, but that short message contains the critical piece of information that every Android user is going to want: yeah, the link to beta program.  If you are interested, make sure you sign up soon, because there are limited slots available in the beta.   New features are being added all the time, but remember this is still a beta, so not all features are going to be fully functional.  Interested?  Here is that link again for you to check it out:

http://beta.swype.com/android/get

I have been using it since yesterday, and I have to say that so far I am pretty impressed.  but don’t take my word for it, check it out,and then come back and let us know what you think.

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