The First 25 Windows Phone Apps To Download

You asked for it so let’s do it. With the upcoming sale of Windows Phones in the US starting Sunday (fine, Monday for those who don’t ask nice) here’s a list of the first series of apps you’ll want to look into. Remember, I’m doing this without a device in hand so it’s based on what is popular, highly rated and otherwise significant. If I use a slash that’s just telling you there are multiple apps that do similar tasks depending on what you’re personally into. And of course, I’m going for the general population here so if you have specific interests don’t knock me for not naming the app. Oh and these are not in order of best to worst – you’ll likely want them all:

1. YouTube – seriously, they should have just included this. It just links YouTube.com to the h.264 codec (free)
2. Adobe Reader – if you do anything involving business of any sort (free)
3. Netflix – just make sure you set your queue on a PC first cause queue management is not it’s high point (free)
4. Facebook – that’s if you’re hardcore. Otherwise the UI is plenty of average people
5. Twitter – it edged out Seesmic in at least one head to head so try it out…or Seesmic if you want to post to both FB and Twitter at once – both are free. I’m still waiting for Fuse to be released though
6. Weatherbug – weather with a live tile and push notifications (free)
7. Pictures Lab – a picture editor that has 21 effects and is getting great reviews and has great developer feedback ($2 but $1 promo for the US launch) or you can try Thumba that has some overlapping effects but with no reviews it’s hard to judge it ($1.29). Both have trial modes
8. Cocktail Flow – If you drink get this. It’s got a 5 star rating with over 20 reviews ($3)
9. Fandango Movies or Flixter – see show times, watch trailers and buy tickets (free – both 4.5 stars) and if you’re into movies then also get the IMDb app which looks great (free)
10. iHeartRadio/Slacker/Last.fm – I won’t judge you based on which one you like. They all stream music and are all free. iheartradio is the highest rated and was done developed by Justin Angel so it gets a shout out for that.
11. PC Connector – This gives you remote access to files on a PC. You install an app locally on your PC and then you can download/upload files. Apparently it requires some technical knowhow but if you need files on the fly this may be the way to go. ($5 but has a trial).
12. Shazam – hear a song, get it’s name. For free
13. FourSquare and Yelp and Where if you’re into them. Each app is free.
14. Open Table to find/reserve restaurants bookings (free). Of course, you can use Zagat as well ($10)
15. MusixMatch – finds lyrics for songs you’re playing or you can search for them and it ties into the Zune player (free)
16. Photobucket/Flickr Manager – If you use these services, there’s an app for you to upload/download your pics (free)
17. Cardmobili/Cardstar – both store those store discounts on your key ring and both need work. Cardmobili doesn’t let you input a unique merchant (so you have to live with the ones they have) and requires a registration while Cardstar avoids these with some performance issues but they’re both free.
18. eBay – Do I need to describe this? It’s free
19. iFood Assistant Plus despite being a little heavy on Kraft products, it has recipes, videos, shopping lists and a recipe box ($1).
20. RSS Readers – I’m not picking one for you cause there are almost as many RSS apps as there are tip calculators. They range in price from free to $3 and in functionality. It’s a question of what you’re willing to pay. Personally I plan on trying yomomedia’s app cause it’s an app I know. it’s $3 but has a trial mode
21. NYC Subway – I don’t care where you live – Ramon and I are here! It has no ratings so far but that’s still not stopping me ($1). Fine for the rest of you try Public Transit to get around public transit (Goog Transit is the backbone) for free.
22. Travelocity and Lonely Planet’s for your travel needs (free). There’s also Tripmate 247 that’s free but it has no reviews yet.
23. Translator – translate between English, French, Italian, German and Spanish and it speaks the phrase out loud for you (free)
24. GoVoice for Goog Voice needs. Seems to be holding up pretty well to the critics ($3)
25. Tip Apps – If I had $1 for every tip app in the market I’d have over $30. Again, I’m not picking here but I do see an old classic ezytip for $1 with a trial mode

Without a device in hand I can’t really recommend games. I’ll give some hints from what I’ve read/seen though. The Xbox Live games are generally some of the best rated games. They’re also the priciest. Personally I’m looking forward to try The Harvest, de Blob, Max and the Magic Marker, Earthworm Jim, Twin Blades and Flowerz is free so may as well  try it. Getting to the rest of the games, definitely download some of the freebies like Unite (it’s like Teeter) and Corona (a solid space shooter). If you use Xbox then get Xbox Live Extras that does the avatar/social Xbox stuff for free. On the paid side I’ll be trying Krashlander asap (addictive angry birds-ish game $1 with a trial mode) Bowling XX ($2 with a trial), AlphaJax (scrabble type multiplayer game), Word Monger (another word game that’s unique in style), A Beanstalk Tale (doodle jump type game for $1 with a trial) and Decimation X2 (a crazy Japanese alien defense shooter with pixels everywhere – $1 with a trial). There are lots of others I’ll be trying in the second wave like: Hungry Castaway, Bye Bye Brain, DroppyPop, Scribble Defense, Sabotage, Babylonian Twins and Caverace (looks like Bomberman). I know I missed a lot but there are a lot of games here and a lot more time to try them out.

Anyway, this is about you, not me, so tell me what I missed and if I found any you missed so we can try to keep this as a good place for people to find the first series of apps they need.