Swype Arrives for Symbian^1 Devices

If you have been a loyal Symbian user for the past few years, you might have noticed the gradual decrease of high value apps for the platform. By high value apps we mean apps for most used services like YouTube, Gtalk and Skype for example.

Yes, there are apps for all these for Symbian but usually these are released much later compared to, say, the Android and iPhone versions. That brings us to  Swype, which until now was available only for Android and Windows Mobile devices. However, on September 1, Nokia Beta Labs surprised us by announcing the launch of a Beta version of Swype designed for Nokia touchscreen handsets on the Symbian^1 platform. But then we recalled that Swype had actually received considerable funding form Nokia in the not too distant past.

Swype, if you are not aware, is a very useful text input method intended for on-screen QWERTY keypads. Unlike other methods that need a tap on the screen to generate an input, Swype allows text entry by tracing a finger past the keys. This makes it way faster than existing tap mechanisms.

 

Many handsets already come with Swype pre-installed these days -  including the Samsung Galaxy S. While Swype is not available for download as an app for other platforms, for Symbian it is. The current beta version if priced to be a success might ensure the availability of Swype as a standard addition to Symbian's text entry methods for touchscreen handsets in the future.

You can install Swype Beta from here