Hi,
I was wondering if I'm doing something strange, or is it normal that 3G connection takes ~3 times as much energy as wifi?
I've disabled the wifi completely with wifi switcher app, connected via 3g, not used it much, but had a couple of jabber accounts, sip and email enabled in the background.

On a wifi connection, I can get 30-40 hours of battery life. With 3G today, the phone died after around 7.

Is that typical?

Yes, it's typical.

Each data packet in or out forces the 3g radio to actively transmit for a few seconds after, it's operator-dependent. With enough background activity going on, the 3g radio never gets to sleep much.

2g is much better for the always-online usage.

I'll try switching to 2g for background chat next time, in that case. Thanks a lot.