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Although iPhones have become more sophisticated, powerful, and easier to use, they are still plagued by battery problems. An iPhone’s processor is much faster compared to other conventional smartphones available in the market and as such, they are power hungry devices. It’s not uncommon to charge an iPhone two or sometimes, three times a day.

But there are certain methods of increasing the battery life of an iPhone; here are 5 tips to follow if you want your iPhone to last throughout the day.

1.    Enable Low Power Mode

The ‘Low Power Mode’ is the main feature of iOS 9, so you will need to upgrade to iOS 9 if you want to avail this handy trick. According to Apple, with this mode turned on, your iPhone’s battery will last up to 3 hours longer. It degrades the performance of the phone by switching off a few visual effects, mail fetch, background app refresh, and automatic updates and downloads, etc.

When turned on, the battery meter becomes yellow. When your phone’s battery reaches 20%, an on-screen prompt appears asking you to activate the function. Of course, you can do it manually as well by going to settings, battery, and then enable ‘Low Power Mode’.

2.    Lower the Brightness

The more brightness you set on the screen of your iPhone, the more power it consumes, draining the battery quickly. Therefore, this is a primary reason why the batteries on most iPhones don’t last long; to avoid this, turn down the brightness by going to settings and then to display and brightness.

Alternatively, you can turn on auto-brightness so that your iPhone will ensure that you don’t use up more of the battery then you should. It utilizes a sensor that will adjust the screen’s brightness automatically relative to the environment’s ambient lighting conditions.

3.    Turn Off Location Services

Location services enable the GPS in your iPhone; this is useful when you are navigating or when you want your friends or family members to know where you are in case of an emergency. On the other hand, keeping this functionality on drains your battery considerably; instead, turn it off when you are not using it.

4.    Switch Off Push Mail

Unless you are on the go or if you are a really busy person, you should turn off the push mail feature. A great battery drainer, it provides you with the ability to receive new emails to your phone’s inbox as soon as they arrive on the mail server. If it is on, it will keep prompting the server for any new mail, regardless of whether your phone is connected to a network or not. Those constant prompts use the phone’s processor and they will drain your battery sooner than you think.

5.    Reduce or Turn Off Background App Refresh

The background app refresh is similar to the push mail feature, but it works with apps. When turned on, it monitors the apps you use the most and keeps checking for new content; whether you are connected to a Wi-Fi/cellular data network or not, it will continue prompting the server for updated information. This drains the battery and as such, you should either turn it off or limit it to only those apps which you use frequently.

In order to do so, go to setting, general, and then you will see a tab labelled ‘Background App Refresh’. Tap it and then select the appropriate option.

*The information in this blog is designed to provide helpful information on the subjects discussed. Please seek a professional for expert advice as we can not be held responsible for any damages or negative consequences upon following this information.

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Halo 5: Guardians Has Finally Launched!

Row.co.uk Blog

Halo 5: Guardians Has Finally Launched!


Halo 5: Guardians has finally launched!

The long awaited ‘Halo 5: Guardians’ was released this week (27/10/2015) and it looks incredible, with many new features. Before we look into the new game, we thought it would be interesting to briefly talk about the history of the Halo franchise…

In 2001, we saw the beginning of Halo with Combat Evolved. It had sold 5 million copies by 2005 and was said to be the killer app for Xbox, meaning Halo was able to increase sales of Xbox consoles, making it more popular than it would ever be without it. 

Halo 2 was released in 2004 and by June 2006 more than 500 million games of Halo had been played, as well as over 710 million hours played on Xbox Live.

The big hit for Microsoft was the release of Halo 3 in 2007, which made a gross profit of $300 million in the first week! More than a million players were online in the first 20 hours. To date, more than 14.5 million copies of Halo 3 have been sold. 

The next was Halo: ODST released in 2009. It was the best seller in the United States for that year and sold more than 3 million copies worldwide.

Halo Reach, released in 2010, brought some new features to the game; new multiplayer classes such as: Sprint, Armour Lock, Jetpack, Active Camo and Hologram were introduced. At first, the fan base were finding it difficult to like the changes, but they grew accustomed to it over time. Halo Reach sold a gross profit of $200 million on launch day, setting a new record for the franchise. 

In 2012 came Halo 4, which sold over 3 million copies on its launch day; over $220 million in profit.

It’s clear that a huge fan base has formed and grown since initially releasing Halo 1. In 2014, the Master Chief Collection was released. This included the high definition remake of Halo 1: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 4, which was supported by Xbox 360 and Xbox One. All of the games retained original story and gameplay. On May 2015, Halo: ODST was made available to the collection. For those who love the Halo franchise, this became a great opportunity to go back and play the thrilling prequels in High Definition. 

According to reports, by mid-2015, all of the Halo games had grossed over $3.5 Billion!


Now, onto Halo 5: Guardians...

Halo 5 career takes place in the year 2558, and is set eight months after the events of Halo 4’s Spartan Ops game mode. There are said to be 15 campaign missions, which, based on average results through user research testing on normal difficulty, could take 8-12 hours.  

Specs & Info:

  • 12v12 Warzone; the largest halo multiplayer experience to date 
  • 4V4 Arena multiplayer; a skill-based competitive combat 
  • 4-Player Drop-in/Drop-out co-op campaign
  • 13 Hidden Skulls in campaign for in-game unlockables 
  • Features the largest ensemble of characters in any Halo game yet, with both new and returning characters 
  • 8 Playable characters in co-op campaign: Vale, Buck, Locke, Tanaka, Linda, Master Chief, Kelly and Fred 
  • There are 21 exciting multiplayer maps from the launch date, with 18+ maps said to be coming post launch
  • 175 armour sets and helmets available with many more to come in the future 
  • 30 vehicle variants 
  • 53 different visors 
  • ‘Forge’ - Halo 5 players must wait till December for its release, but 1600+ objects will be available to create your own map
  • 218 player emblems available to, again, provide the unique aspects to your player profile

We’re extremely excited that Halo 5: Guardians has finally been released, and can see it being very difficult to get bored of, so it’s about time we take on some aliens and become a hero! 

If you love your games, the chances are that your console is up there with your most treasured possessions. Don’t risk the dreaded ‘game over’ if something goes wrong it! We offer games console insurance at fantastic, competitive prices for a range of consoles from popular Manufacturers. So, why not get a quick and easy quote on our website and see what we can offer you. 



*The information in this blog is designed to provide helpful information on the subjects discussed. Please seek a professional for expert advice as we can not be held responsible for any damages or negative consequences upon following this information.

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