Anyone familiar with the Samsung Omina II knows that the Windows Mobile handset ships with a novel keyboard called Swype. Unlike traditional onscreen keyboards that require you to tap each letter, Swype allows you to run your fingers in a swiping motion over the letters in a word. As you swipe the necessary letters, the software tries to guess the word which you are spelling. Mobile Crunch was able to test out a pre-release version of Swype for Android and the reviewer’s first impression was positive. He found Swype easy to use, easily expandable with the ability to add custom words, customizable with a list of options to tweak Swype to your own swiping style, compatible with most Android applications, and accurate at predicting words, even when the swiping was sloppy. It is not clear whether Swype will be sold in the Android Market or bundled into the OS by a handset manufacturer. Regardless of its distribution method, expect to hear more about Swype in the future as the company behind the keyboard just received $5.6M in funding from Samsung Ventures and Nokia Growth Partners. For a quick peek at Swype, check out the video preview after the break.