@SFGary:

Nokia N8 has rated 400 hours (16 days) standby, from a 1200mAh battery. This seems close to reality in my experience. I didn't have to jump through hoops to keep my device from draining the battery on a recent tour. Just set airline mode (no network, no wifi) and keep it on standby other than when I was using it.

iPhone 42 has rated 200 hours (8 days) standby, which is half that of the N8. Based on the article I linked to, this seem close to reality, assuming you follow the guidelines in that article for battery conservation.

Galaxy II has rated 610 hours standby (25 days), from a 1650mAh battery. However, there are complaints all over the place, such as yours, that Android devices don't actually get anywhere near the rated talk or standby times.

Unlike Symbian^3 and iOS, Android was not really designed from the ground up for efficiency. Symbian^3 is particularly efficient, because it has its roots in the old days of underpowered smartphones. Of course, for the same reason, Symbian^3 feels clunky compared to iOS and Android, and there are few apps written for it. But I'm less concerned about downloadable apps than the big 4 builtin functions (voice communications, offline mapping GPS, camera, web browser) and my N8 does those quite well. My major complaints about the N8 are: (a) no support for common VPN protocols (PPTP, L2TP, etc); (b) screen too small for effective web browsing or data entry or use as e-reader; (c) no kindle app.