The first Android tablets are soon to hit our stores in what can only be described as the tip of a very large iceberg, every major and not so major manufacturer has a device on the horizon it would seem. Text entry on these Android devices is going to be important as it will be done through a virtual on-screen keyboard and plays a big part in the overall experience of a device.

Swype has a different approach to text entry which involves moving your finger over the letters in the word you require rather than individually pressing each letter. I thought the best way to show this to you is in a video;

Already major manufacturers are recognising the potential of this type of text input and even the upcoming Motorola Droid X [product details] comes with Swype as the standard text input method.

Although the Swype beta is now closed you can still register for the next test and hopefully we should see this Android market soon.

Swype, an application I’ve tested, and was impressed with, on the Archos 5 has just been used to set a new world record for mobile phone input.

The 160-character sentence took just 35 seconds to input which is an average 4.5 characters per second. That’s faster than I type on a full size keyboard and three times the speed I get to on an iPhone. Twice the speed of one of the best slider keyboards out there the OQO Model 02 and faster than I can achieve on most netbooks. Phew!

Via: Recombu / Seattle Times