Data Connection reason for low battery life?

[Slack3r]

I was trying to figure out why my battery life took a huge downturn after I hard reset, and I think I figured out why. For some reason my data connection is constantly on, even when it's not in use. Every time it gets activated, for either a weather update or to check my email, it simply doesn't shut off, and I suspect that it continues to be active even while the screen is turned off.

I was at a party all of last night, and I made a point of checking it every once in a while, and guess what, it was on even though I shut it off prior. With constant babying of the phone, I went the entire night, 12+ hours, with only a 20% drop in battery life. This was with me intermittently checking my emails, browsing the web, etc, but turning off the connection after each time. I have the phone in CDMA only mode, and this already helps tremendously, but I think the data connection is the bigger reason for battery drain here.

I'm not sure if this is a problem specific to my phone, or something that would effect all Imagios. Has anyone else noticed this? Also, does anyone know if there's a way to have it automatically disable when the screen is shut off, or after inactivity? I couldn't find an option in advanced config, and I'm not sure if there's an option in the phone settings.