I just answered my door to a FedEx guy holding a Swype-enabled Samsung Omnia II. I’ve had it in my hands for 10 minutes. The Omnia II (and I didn’t like the Omnia I) is a Windows-mobile device. The interesting thing about this new phone from Verizon is that it is the first phone released using Swype.

What is Swype? Well, I’m hoping it is technology that lets bumbling people such as myself successfully use a touchscreen mobile device. I’ve talked, multiple times, about my inability to use virtual keyboards that lack haptic feedback (ahem, iPhone). In theory, Swype changes that. According to their web site,

“Swype provides a faster and easier way to input text on any screen. With one continuous finger or stylus motion across the screen keyboard, the patented technology enables users to input words faster and easier than other data input methods—at over 50 words per minute. The application is designed to work across a variety of devices such as phones, tablets, game consoles, kiosks, televisions, virtual screens and more.”

I should never actually pick up my finger and instead, I’ll be dragging it across the screen from letter to letter. For me to accurately test this, I need to set up a few of my email accounts on the Omnia II and actually use the touchscreen keyboard.

While I admit to be mostly testing out the Swype technology, I’ll also, by default, be trying out the phone. It has a 3.7-inch WVGA (800×480 pixels) AMOLED touch screen and is running Windows Mobile 6.5, which includes IE Mobile. Let me know what you want to know about this phone so I can customize next week’s review.

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Cheers!
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