So recently, I upgraded my old Macbook to an iMac 27” (if you are wondering yes its amazing) and my iPhone 3G to an 32GB 3GS. Augmented Reality is going to be the next big thing so I needed to also upgrade my iPhone to start tinkering with the compass. I digress. The point is that my beautiful sister reaped the benefits :

16 GB iPhone 3G and 13.3 Macbook 500 GB HD with 2 GB of RAM all for a hug ( I drive a hard bargain I know) . As that should get me in the mix for Brother of the Year Awards it does not guarantee me a spot on the podium.

However, making a starter kit of iPhone Apps already installed on her new iPhone would. So I decided to create her one and share what apps I used with you the customer (bad Jay-Z reference sorry)! Below is the list and little snippet about the app and why its a must have! Next to that will be a link for a more extensive review of the app…i.e. Click here for more details! and a link to download the app from the app store if you like it (all the apps in the starter kit are FREE)!

In Summary:

Who does this apply to?

New Users…i.e my sister or people who have an iPhone and don’t have any apps on it!!!! Come on People!

How much does the iPhone Starter Kit cost?

NOTHING ALL APPS ARE FREE – Refer back to About Way2Hype page…we are cheapskates!

*Disclosure: I broke down and bought a $36 year membership to Pandora, Pandora’s free service has ads and a 40 hour monthly limit

How many apps are in the Way2Hype iPhone Starter Kit ?

16 . Its essentially your home screen minus Core Apps (Messages, Mail, iPod, Phone)

Why did I set it up this way?

This post is super long, but I did it all in one so you can skim it if you want and if something catches your eye read it. Also if you don’t want to read the snippets you can just download all the apps and then read about them later.

Why are the reviews so short?

The reviews are one click away!I didn’t want to add to the length of this post because it is already ungodly long so I added Click here for more details! This separates the long reviews from the short ones, much like the back of the book. If it interests you click and read more if it doesn’t scroll on !

Why don’t you have a Navigation App on the starter kit?

I have used TomTom, Navigon, and Maps and I am currently testing out MapQuest. To Answer the question: its because all the navigation programs are too expensive, $50 or more, cheapskates remember, also I haven’t found one that I think is worth the money (they’ll all eventually go to free anyway). So to realize my navigational needs I use the Trapster app, which more than fulfills my local needs and the default Maps suffices for road trips. However, Trapster might be taking that spot as well with their new caravan feature, check it out in the review of Trapster its legit. Also, there are rumors that the iPhone OS 4 that drops this summer will have a free turn by turn app integrated fo’ free!

Without further ado the iPhone Starter Kit:

This is a Snapshot of my Home Screen

Mint.com is a fantastic Financial App that is an extension of the Best Financial Website on the Web. I can’t even tell you how easy it is to setup and best of all its FREE. Once the initial setup of linking your bank accounts, inputting your loans, annuity’s, investments, etc…it has everything you need to become your own accountant. You basically build your own balance sheet right before your eyes!

Go to Mint.com first and do the initial setup, its not that long don’t be lazy and the best part you only have to do this once ! Click here for more details!

Download Mint.com iPhone App Here

Sportacular is the best sports App out there period! It has an insane bevy of options to choose from such as a Favorite Teams section where you can set your favorite teams ranging from Sprint Cup driver to English Premiership teams all the way to the PGA and it goes even further with push notification to alert you of score changes, game starts and ends.

No sports app would be complete without odds, which can be turned on with a shake of the ol’ iPhone. There are tons more features that will be discussed after the jump! Click here for more details!

Download Sportacular iPhone App Here
Download Sportacular Pro iPhone App Here

TWC-The Weather Channel among the top downloaded apps are Weather Apps, which is an obvious indicator of how important knowing the weather is. The default weather app is nice, but it lacks substance. Its similar to going into a bar and going after the hot girl without a personality, after the beauty wears off you are begging for more.

TWC is the most comprehensive weather app out there and its backed by the Weather Channel, which is one on the most trustworthy and accurate weather outlets. You can store multiple locations easily and once a location is selected you can have the choice of Current, Hourly, 36 Hour, and 10 day forecast for the aforementioned location. Click here for more details!

Download TWC iPhone App Here
Download TWC Max iPhone App Here

FourSquare or Gowalla*- The biggest thing in the iPhone world right now is location-based apps. I will spare you the tech babble, but it basically lets you accumulate points, awards, such as mayors and badges based on a custom algorithm that takes into account a plethora of factors contained within those geographic check-ins.

Foursquare has a playful approach and has a little more juvenile interface (which I like) compared to the passport based interface of Gowalla (which I also like). Both apps integrate with Facebook and Twitter very easily…Hence the check-in’s you see on Facebook and Twitter.

Gowalla is super awesome especially if you are a pioneer and blaze your own trail. Both apps are awesome and the only reason I chose Foursquare was because it has more places already databased. Click here for more details Foursquare!*

*I use both and think they are both great choices, but if you need geographic differentiators; Foursquare is a start up out of New York, NY and Gowalla is a startup out of Austin, TX.

Download Foursquare iPhone App Here

Download Gowalla iPhone App Here

Shazam is the best way to identify an unknown song, it is a must have app for any music lover. I am a huge downloader (all legal of course) which allows me to Shazam songs that I want to DL when I get back home. (Pandora has a bookmark feature which I also get a lot of mileage out of!)

In case you have been living under a rock without an iPhone, Shazam takes a piece of a song (like 15-20 seconds) analyzes the musical blueprint and compares it to their database and after that is done. SHAZAM! (no pun intended) You know the song, the songs artist, album; basically every relevant piece of info! If you are a baller (which I am not hence the DL’ing) you also have the choice to purchase that song from iTunes Store.

There are a bunch of other awesome features I’ll talk about after the jump. Bottom line, Shazam is awesome and a necessity for any music enthusiast. Click here for more details!

Download Shazam iPhone App Here

Download Shazam Encore iPhone App Here

Pandora is one of the Best iPhone Apps and it is also accessible from anywhere on the web! Pandora is the first music app to take advantage of the Music Genome Project. Here is a link to it for more info, but it basically uses around 400 unique attributes to identify songs and then uses a mathematical algorithm to sort and organize them. The creators said they want to ” capture the essence of music at the fundamental level.”

Pandora is amazing! If you input a artist, song, genre, or composer it populates a list of close matches (usually what you are looking for shows up well before you are finished inputting the text). The best thing about Pandora is that it “gets to know you”. What I mean by this is that it starts to learn what you like more and don’t like with use of the Thumbs UP/Down buttons and if you skip thru tacks. The more you rate the tracks the more adept Pandora gets to your unique tastes.

The best way to describe Pandora to people is that it is your favorite song every song! Click here for more details!

*Disclosure as stated above I have a yearly subscription to Pandora which is $36 and you receive unlimited listening ad-free and a standalone Pandora app for your computer (you don’t have to go to Pandora.com anymore), which is a nice little add-on. Pandora is a free service and you can listen up to 40 hours a month with ads for free. After you go over your free time allotment you can choose to wait it out, buy the rest of the month for 99 cents or buy the year for $36.

Download Pandora iPhone App Here

Facebook I won’t spend much time on this one for obvious reasons, but for any aliens reading this Facebook is one of the largest social community on the web with over 400 million active users. Not on Facebook or if you want a more in depth review follow the jump. Click here for more details!

Download Facebook iPhone App Here

Around Me is one of the Best Geo-Informant Apps awesome when you are in unfamiliar surroundings. It uses your GPS location to populate data for you. If you don’t want to use your GPS location no problem you can enter your ZIP, City or even Neighborhood name.

It has all the core categories you would expect and then some…i.e. Bars, Restaurants Pharmacies, Apple Stores, Theaters the list goes on and on!

There are so many features that you will want to follow the jump to the main review, but definitely download Around Me if traveling is a passion. It makes you feel like a local….somewhat. Click here for more details!

Download AroundMe iPhone App Here

Trapster is great if you are like me and think your 2003 Honda Civic is an Aston Martin Vanquish and drive like a madman/woman.

Trapster is an in-genius app that maximizes user inputted data. Trapster basically is a radar detector without the radar. A radar detector uses radar as a warning signal for you to slow down. Trapster uses this user built database of Police positions and traffic stops. The best part is that you can confirm or report fake/erroneous locations. The more times you are right the higher up in the food chain you move, in other words your stop locations will have more merit than a first time user or someone who reports false or inaccurate stops!

The Trapster app is a must have because you can also listen to music while it is running, change songs, make a on-the-go playlist, it even displays the album art; all this while being able to navigate along with a laundry list of fantastic features, best of all speeding without getting tickets! Follow the jump for the in-depth review and a cool video that makes the technology that Trapster uses easy to digest for all the non-geeks. Click here for more details!

Download Trapster iPhone App Here

Words with Friends is the most addicting game ever!! Download at your own risk! Words is basically scrabble, but you can play random people and even your friends inviting them to games. The competition gets intense and the time consumption is off the scale! I recently rescinded from the world of Words with Friends, but I see a relapse on the horizon.

Words has a very straightforward interface and is very user friendly, it also has push notifications so if you are doing something important you would be promptly interrupted by the app telling you that its your turn! Follow the jump for the rest of the review. Click here for more details!

*Disclaimer – I am not a huge gamer on the iPhone

Download Words with Friends iPhone App Here
Download Words with Friends Ad-Free iPhone App Here

GorillaCam is the premier camera app! It has an array of options you can set very easily from the settings pane. The choices include: self-timer, time-lapse, anti-shake, bubble level, grid, press anywhere (which is my favorite and great for self portraits or a pic with someone) and three shot burst.

This app is a must have for any photog (amateur that is). Click here for more details!

Download GorillaCam iPhone App Here

Knocking is a fantastic live camera sharing app with a lot of potential. Most of the features will be discussed after the jump because they are a lot! However, the reason the Knocking app made it on the iPhone starter kit is because of its ability to share a live video feed with your iPhone! The app turns your iPhone’s camera into a web cam, which allows for a one-way video chat! Click here for more details!

Download Knocking iPhone App Here

Urbanspoon or Yelp are both fantastic Restaurant Apps.
Yelp has a insanely large database (albeit a lot of user help) of restaurants with reviews, menus, photos, ratings etc. Their app aggregates all this data into a beautiful little iphone app. The best part is both apps use your GPS location to populate a list of restaurants or bars or whatever you are looking for closest to you! Incredibly handy for the avid traveler…i.e. my sister!

Urbanspoon also has a huge database like Yelp, but it differentiates itself because it allows you to apply a filter to those suggestions in the list. Where as Yelp will only use one criteria Closest Proximity, Urbanspoon allows the users to apply many criterion (plural for criteria had to look it up) such as City, Style of Food and Price. The best part is you can use none 1,2, or all 3!

With that being said, Urbanspoon is a phenomenal app especially if you have a hunger for the unknown press a button and SHAKE and you have your destination . Urbanspoon is also great in group environments because you can pick a random spot!

I would download both Apps and play with them and decide which one you want on your homescreen, but in the end Yelp takes Top Restaurant App* in the iPhone Starter Kit because I like the review saturated interface of Yelp.

They both have a very visually appealing interface, a worthy website, both apps include augmented reality check out the screen shots after the jump its super cool, and an arsenal of features I’ll talk about after the jump. Click here for more details on Yelp!

*I read an article today about Yelp extorting money for negative review removal from restaurants. I’ll keep my eye on the situation! Here is the article

Download Urbanspoon iPhone App Here

Download Yelp! iPhone App Here

Remote is one of the coolest Integration Apps it can control your iTunes Music Libraryon any computer on your wi-fi network! This is a must have for any music lover, but more importantly this app is perfect if you are that person that entertains people or has company over a lot and don’t want to get up to change songs or break away from a conversation to adjust the musics volume.

Super simple to set it up and if you have artwork and an organized library all your guests will be in awe! The best part is that you can let your guests do the dirty work. If you enable iTunes DJ on your MAC or PC in iTunes. (I’ll have a little setup guide after the jump its really easy!)

Once setup, everyone with the Remote App can request songs! The more requests a song gets the higher it moves up the playlist! Its seriously a must have for anyone that entertains company! There is so much cool stuff you can do with this app follow the jump for the whole smorgasbord of features and cool ways to use them! Click here for more details!

Download Remote iPhone App Here

Tweetdeck or Twitterific - What starter kit would be complete without a twitter client app. Both TweetDeck and Twitterific are both incredibly versatile Twitter Apps and they both have great interfaces and easy integration. The main reason why I like Tweetdeck is because I use it on my desktop, which I can then sync all the preferences to my iPhone. This is also available for Twitterific. They both have a great set of features, including multiple accounts and search amplifiers. If you don’t use either as a desktop client I would suggest trying both and see if you like a column set up versus a “master” screen that you can the navigate and tailor to your hearts delight. Click here for more details on Tweetdeck!

As stated earlier, I prefer Tweetdeck but not because its better than Twitterific, I just prefer the column setup and the desktop version of TweetDeck integrates with my setup easier.

Download Tweetdeck iPhone App

Download Twitterific iPhone App

Download Twitterific Pro iPhone App

Showtimes or Fandango are the two best Movie Apps. They are both fantastic and again I would recommend downloading both. I actually prefer the Showtimes App over Fandango because other than one feature they are both very comparable as far as ease of use, visual appeal, information accuracy and abundance, video trailers and reviews along with a few other things that I will talk about after the jump.

The main thing reason I chose Fandango for the Way2Hype iPhone Starter Kit was because of the ability to actually buy the tickets right from the app. ( One caveat is not all theaters participate) Click here for more details on Fandango!

Download Showtimes iPhone App

Download Fandango iPhone App

Thanks for everyone who made it thru this gargantuan post! These 16 apps are must haves for any iPhone owner and best of all they are free!

What are your must have apps?

What apps does/would your starter kit be comprised of?

Leave some comments suggestions or both if you so choose!