Android phones, now we’re talking my language. iPhone fans are loud and fierce in their love for that gadget, but for me the Android will always win out. I <3 my Android.

So, today let’s talk about Swype and how you can get it for free. Ever hear of it?

How about T9? The text word auto-complete feature found on over three billion phones today? Most of you have probably used T9, and most of those have probably liked it. Oh, sure, sometimes it might guess the wrong word, and that can lead to a funny or awkward text if you don’t catch it – but for the most part it makes texting a lot easier and simpler, right?

Well, Swype comes from the same guy. Cliff Kushler’s his name, and he came up with Swype originally as a way to make touchscreen texting easier for people with physical disabilities. Turns out, it’s handy for everyone – and Swype is available as a FREE download on the Android market!

It works by displaying a larger-than-normal keyboard pattern on your touchscreen. You touch the first letter you want, and then drag your finger to the next letter, and the next, and so on. Instead of tapping a key, you just drag (or swipe) your finger from one to another, and the Swype software figures out what you’re typing.

I use Swype, and I have for about two months, now. It makes texting incredibly fast. I’m talking like three times faster – and my phone has a slide-out physical keyboard that I was pretty darn fast with.

Today, the keyboard is like a joke to me. It seems slow and klunky and awkward, when I can just swipe my finger back and forth and churn out entire paragraphs without an error.

Try it yourself – the download is free, and it’s compatible with several versions of the Android OS. It does take some practice to feel comfortable with it, so I’d suggest giving it a trial period of a week or two.

After that, you’ll wonder what you ever did without it. Seeing someone tapping away at their screen will look to you like a caveman prodding a funny-looking rock and grunting in confusion.