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If you think you're in store for iPhone-like browsing on the Instinct, best to get those notions out of your head right now. It isn't even close. The browser must be used sideways in landscape mode, there is no portrait-mode browsing.

Launching the browser will bring you to the Sprint home page for the Instinct, which has access to standard Sprint stuff, as well as content specifically made for the Instinct. This includes a set of clips that teach you how to use your Instinct. Flanking either side of the main windows are eight buttons that let you access and control the browser's features.

You can view things in "mobile" mode and "standard" mode. On the left side is a zoom button. This button has three settings. You can view the web page at 1x, 2x, or 1/2x zoom levels. If you're at 1x, and want to view at 1/2x, you have to cycle past 2x first. The browser also has a mini-map, that zooms the page way out and shows you what portion of the web site you are looking at. You can then move the map to another location on the site and the page will automatically zoom in on that spot. The bottom-most button on the left side of the phone will let you fill more of the screen with the web site page, or bring up the secondary set of browser icons on the right side of the page. Those include a search function, a button that takes you to the home screen, a link to your bookmarks, and a page refresher.

One neat feature the browser has, is that it will allow you to pan around Web sites by tilting the phone. Simply press the camera key while the browser is open to activate it.

At the top of the browser window is the address bar. Getting this bar to function was an exercise in madness. It typically took 5 or more taps to get the address bar to come up. When it finally did, it would open up a new window with the QWERTY keyboard to enter text. When you're all finished typing, hit Done, and it takes you back to the browser, but doesn't automatically bring up that new page. You have to then hit the refresh button. This is an extra step that is somewhat irritating.

The Instinct uses Sprint's EVDO Rev A. network. Browsing speeds should be fairly fast, but in our experience were all over the place. Google took a full 30 seconds to load, while CNN loaded in just 8 seconds. The nice thing is that the browser supports full HTML, so you'll get more of a real web experience. It's definitely better than the standard WAP browser, but some extra thought could have made this browser much better.

Customize

The fact that you can change up the features menu entirely - as well as alter some of the secondary menus - lets you customize the Instinct to suit your usage needs. This lets you put applications and functions where you want them, which speeds up the time it takes to get things done. You can set the standard ringtones, picture IDs, wallpaper and so on to make the phone look more yours, but you can't change the fonts or overall theme of the Instinct. The menu style is pretty much set in stone, as are the colors used for all the graphics, borders, etc. Hopefully Sprint will provide more themes for the Instinct via its store.

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