I sometimes have the same info with my Evo. What I've found great is to have a widget that turns data on / off. Sometimes I only need voice / text, so by turning off data, it preserves the battery life. Then when I want to check email, turn data back on, and voila it checks right away.
You can also try apps like Juice Defender that lets you have more control over how the phone behaves, to conserve battery, etc.
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