Sprint has recently upgraded their Instinct browser that boasts a range of improvements and a better user experience. At the same time, however Sprint will begin to test a significant Java security issue today [Oct 14th].

Instinct 1.1 browser allows wireless users to get faster web page rendering, especially noticeable when panning, zooming and resizing.

Sprint claim to have fixed 26 minor software bugs, including some issues related to crashes, sprint representative Nathan Smith posted in a forum on October 3rd.

The handset’s software update will be passed to customers over-the-air and includes patches for slow video player start-up, a dialling bug in the parental control option, various calendar and contacts bug fixes, along with a text entry issue in the Yahoo search bar.

Software developers have often complained about the instinct’s text-entry method in a all Java programs, which requires a proprietary Sprint code extension instead of working in the standard way.

What this means is that any Java program with a text entry needs to be specially customised for the handset, while Java phones designed specifically for the Instinct won’t always work correctly on other wireless phones – defeating the purpose if using the traditional “write-once, read-anywhere” Java language in the first place.

Smith wrote in the forum post “please note that this software release is scheduled to enter in certification only on Oct. 13 and we currently don’t have an exit/launch date for the maintenance release, as it depends upon how well the testing/certification goes. Thanks for being patient as we work on making these upgrades happen.”

Sprint was originally supposed to address these problems by August 15.

Back then, a Sprint spokesperson asserted that it’s NOT a bug, but rather a “planned enhancement.”