I find accessing recently used applications on my HTC Incredible (Gingerbread) to be slightly annoying, mostly because I'm a lazy, impatient, good for nothing bum. You just tap and hold the Home button for a second. The main issue I have with it is Android's faux multi-tasking, but that aside, the slight delay when holding the Home button trips me up when I'm on a roll or in a hurry, and I'm limited to eight recent apps. There are a number of solutions that help manage recent tasks. Today I found one that, while it doesn't actually speed me up, is a welcome change (for the moment).
"Dock4Droid" puts an OSX-style dock on your phone. It's minimized to a thin, transparent glowing bar on one edge of the screen. Tap and hold, and the dock pops up, complete with magnification, displaying icons for your most recently used apps. Pausing on an app icon and releasing launches the app. Dragging your finger off the dock, or past the end of the list, dismisses the dock (unlike OSX, where this action removes the icon from the dock).
The dock can be customized in a number of ways. I've only tested the free limited version, but the dock can be moved to any screen edge, number of recent apps set, colors changed, etc.
Give it a try, here's the Market link for Dock4Droid.
