thanks for the explanation, fisharefriends!

i did manage to turn off the 3g and have no idea whether it's because of that or not but - last night the phone was giving me low battery signal while i was making a phone call. this morning i turned off the 3g and now the battery level is back up to the halfway mark. 

my phone tends to give the low battery warning a little early (it says it's low on battery then a little while later the battery level goes up slightly. so i have no idea if it's because of that or the fact that i turned off the 3g. but i will test it out and let you know if the battery life is any better in the next few weeks.