Instinct gets a firmware upgrade, browser gets a bit of polish

Over the weekend, Instinct owners discovered they had a new patch awaiting them courtesy of Sprint and Samsung. Anxiously awaiting the patch that will bring keyboard support to Java applications on the Instinct? This isn’t it. It does, however, give the browser a bit of much needed love.

According to the patch notes (available after the jump), this release (BH29 – catchy name, right?) just about finishes off the UI changes that they began rolling out over the last patch or two, while throwing in a few browser “optimizations” for good measure. Early reports have mentioned improved stability, speedier page renders, and at least one tweak: If you tap the voice command key while in the browser, it’ll take things fullscreen.

To get the upgrade, just dig your way to Main > Settings > General > Update Software. If you’ve got a completely fresh, just out-of-the-box Instinct, you may have to do this two or three times to ensure you’re completely up to date.

Instinct by Samsung Maintenance Release
Product Description: Software Version BH29 for the Instinct by Samsung will
include the majority of the remaining User Interface fixes in native Samsung
software, as well as application optimizations for the browser.
• Delivery: Network Initiated (NI) FUMO Campaign began 9/29/2008:
– Network will push the software to the customers activated device
– The average download time should be between 1.5-3 minutes for a
2 MB file.
– If for some reason the notification is interrupted (incoming call, lost
coverage, battery issues) the affected device will not reestablish the
download session nor will resend the notification. The customer will
need to wait for CI FUMO (see below).
– Pushes limited to working days between 9:00 am – 7:00 pm.
• Client Initiated (CI) FUMO Available as of 9/24/2008:
– Accessed through Main > Settings > General > Update Software
– Phones still using the original in-box software version will need to
update to software version BF30 before updating to BH29. The device
application will prompt the stairstep update.