Swype and Samsung Omnia II Set Guinness World Record for Texting [World Record of 35.54 Seconds Set by Franklin Page, Immortalized in a Commercial]

Posted on TFTS by Staff on Tuesday, 23. March 2010 under: Mobile/Cell Phones

Showing off its prowess as a touchscreen entry tool, Swype and Samsung have announced in a press release that they have set a new Guinness World Record for texting on a touchscreen phone. The honors of holding the position of the world’s fastest touchscreen texter goes to Franklin Page, a former employee of Swype who used a Verizon Wireless Samsung Omina II and the Swype keyboard to text the Guinness World Records official texting phrase of “The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.” in a blazing 35.54 seconds. The record was recorded by Guinness World Record adjudicator, Stuart Claxton and was the basis of a new television commercial for Samsung which is available for your viewing pleasure on Samsung Mobile’s YouTube channel.

For those that have not used Swype, Swype is a novel touchscreen keyboard input mechanism that sheds the traditional hunt and peck method of typing letters on a touch screen with a more fluid and natural swiping motion. The user moves his or her fingers over the letters on the touchscreen keyboard while spelling out a word. The user never lifts their finger off the touchscreen which means words can be spelled at a rate of up to 40 words per minute. While the user is swiping the letters, the keyboard’s processing engine formulates the correct word and inserts it into the text field . The result is an astonishingly accurate input method that is easy and enjoyable to use.

The technology behind the keyboard has solid roots in the field of text input as Swype Incorporated and the Swype keyboard was founded and developed by Cliff Kushler who is the co-inventor of the popular T9 text input method found on almost every mobile phone, and by Randy Marsden, who developed the on-screen keyboard found on the Microsoft Windows platform for PCs. Swype is currently available on the Verizon Wireless Samsung Omnia II, a Windows Mobile 6.5 device that features a spacious 3.7 inch touchscreen, and on the recently launched T-Mobile Motorola Cliq XT which is the first Android phone to ship with Swype. Swype has made a version of its keyboard available for Android owners who can point their browsers to Swype’s website and sign up for the Android beta trial.