The Dark Furie

A new firmware has been released for the Samsung i8910 HD which brings some nice new additions such as improved Bluetooth, updated Flash Lite player and a better QWERTY keyboard layout as well as the usual bugfixes. The firmware is currently only available for the Hong Kong and Russian product codes but Europe will soon follow.

However, my favourite feature added in this firmware is one that I was expecting to be in the first release of the phone as it was included in preview models - the Samsung 3D Task Switcher. Replacing the regular S60 5th edition task manager this is the sort of application that makes a phone seem more like it's worth the money you paid for it. Clicking and holding the centre hardware button invokes the task switcher and the screen shrinks slightly showing a carousel of screens from all open applications as well as the front screen and menu screens. Flicking right and left lets you rotate the carousel and clicking on the screen you want takes you into that application.

The task switcher can also be switched into grid mode which shows the application screens as mini versions of themselves in a basic menu, four to a page. Going deeper into the settings allows you to set up applications you don't want to show in the task switcher (again I can't think of anyone but porn freaks who'd find that useful and they really shouldn't be using a touchscreen phone) as well as how often the application will update the screens.

Everything said and done, this is one of those big show off applications that makes the user interface seem as powerful as the operating system behind it actually is, even to people who've only spent a couple of seconds playing with the phone, and increases the perceived value for money quite a bit. I can't wait until I get the opportunity to play with this myself.