Review: Samsung Omnia II
One of the interesting things that the Omnia II brings to the table is new technology called Swype for inputting text. Swype was created by the same person who invented T9, so you know there's a capable developer behind this application.
Swype works by allowing users to swipe the letters of a word on the software QWERTY keyboard of a touch phone to spell them. For example, to spell the word "phone" a user would place their finger on the "p" and then (while keeping pressure on the screen) slide their finger to the "h", "o" and so on. When the user lifts her/his finger, the word will appear in the text box. If there are multiple matches to a given pattern on the keyboard, Swype will offer suggestions that can be easily inserted into a text box. It works with a finger or stylus, and Swype claims that adept users can reach typing speeds of 30 words per minute.
In theory, it sounds great, right? In practice I found it to be hit or miss. The weird thing is, the longer the word, the better it is. For example, spelling out "Constantinople" gave the Swype software less trouble that spelling out "type." Don't ask me why, I didn't write the software. In my unscientific tests, I found it to be slower than just typing on the keyboard normally. I am sure that practiced users can eventually become quite fast, but my first experience was mixed.
Here is a video demonstration:
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