Swype for Android gets fifth beta update, accepts more testers

Innovative soft keyboard Swype has released a new beta on the Android platform, and is now accepting more beta testers.

Late last year, Swype made big waves in the mobile tech world when it launched its alternative "paint to type" touchscreen keyboard software.

Rather than force users to tap on their touchscreen phones to type out words, Swype let users simply drag their finger from letter to letter without breaking contact. Unfortunately, not everyone had access to the new keyboard software, and this condition persists.

Though it comes built in to a number of Android smartphones, like the Samsung Galaxy S series (thanks to Samsung's Venture funding for the company,) Swype is still in invitation only beta for users of other Android devices. Today, with the release of the fifth beta, Swype is expanding to include more testers.

The latest beta includes a critical fix to the keyboard's accuracy, and has added support for double-tap to edit words already typed, and support for Google's Voice-to-Text input capability.

It's a modest update to the software, which could have been released to the general Android public two iterations ago if usability was the determining factor.

If you haven't already joined the pool of beta testers, point your Android device's browser to http://beta.swype.com/android/get to sign up and download.