TEXTING pays. Srsly.

Melbourne teen Cheong Kit Au is on his way to New York after being formally recognised by Guinness World Records as the fastest texter on the planet.

After winning $10,000 and the chance to compete in the LG World Cup in New York in late January, the 16-year-old whipped through a 264-character text in 1min 17.03sec, smashing the previous world record by a stunning 43 seconds for typing on a qwerty-style keypad.

He picked up another $3000 bonus for that effort.

The talented student from Melbourne High is also at home texting blindfolded, backwards and holding the phone upside down.

But there's no need for training, given Cheong sends up to 200 text messages a day.

Even during his chat with the Herald Sun, the SMS speedster was in constant contact with mates - including one just metres away.

"It's just like a big conversation, sort of Twitter on steroids," he said.

The slightly built teen with nimble fingers doesn't seem to care if it's an iPhone, Nokia, LG or any of the other smart phones, given his intricate knowledge of their inner workings.

The Herald Sun challenged Cheong to a race to type the famous soliloquy from Hamlet.

But by the time it took them a minute to (almost) bash out "To be, or not to be: that is the question", Cheong had already sped through several stanzas, including corrections.

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