My current record is around 16 hours from full charge without gaming and with less than 50% of that active usage (e.g. not having the phone sitting in my pocket). Fear not however as there is a solution.
That may be a claim you've heard in many other places, and possibly even tried a lot of the solutions but stick with me, there is a couple a key points here which will significantly help.
So without further adue (a-due, a due, adieu, oh it's something like that);
Kill, Kill, Kill, ...... Apps That Is
App run in the background when hit the home button or hit a Notification to another app. When they are running in the background they aren't using anywhere near as much power as they would be when they are running normally but they do use power. Especially apps that use location based services such as Pedometers, or Run Trackers. Killing an app won't lose any important information, although it may close some open events, for example in Safari it will close open tabs.
To kill an app double press the home button in quick succession and bottom panel will open showing running apps. Now hold down anyone and they will start to vibrate and show a X much like when you try to move them normally. Now just hit that X and it will close it. Do this every once in a while and you'll save a fair amount of power.
Don't Use Location Services When Not Needed
Some apps use location services for purposeful things, for example Maps, Pedometers (again), Run Tracker (once more again). However others apps use location services for things that we don't really need. For example my banking app does to help me find cash machines but I can just as easily enter my location manually.
GPS swallows power. Unless you think it's crucial to the apps use, say no when asked if you want to allow it. If you already have you can re-disable specific apps (or just check what is using it) in Settings > Location Services.
Turn Off iTunes Ping
Ping is an iTunes service that was designed as Apple's music social service, but most people have never even heard of it, never-mind use it. However if you use Music on your iPhone it's sitting there in the background using power but doing nothing.
To disable, go to Settings > General > Restrictions and Enable Restrictions. Now it should show all your apps and list them as On (meaning un-restricted), find Ping and switch to Off.
Overcharge (and we're not talking about the price tag)
I've done some experimenting with charging the iPhone and the battery seems to preform best when it's overcharged by about 25%. That means if it takes 2 hours to charge, then leave it on charge for 2.5 at least. The best way to do this is usually charging it overnight, when it will get a good long charge.
Turn WiFi Off When Not Using It
Wifi is another power hungry service, and most people leave it running even when their out and about and using 3G services. So unless your using the WiFi turn it off.
To turn WiFi off go to Settings > Wi-Fi and switch to Off. Same procedure to turn back On. You may need to spend an extra 5 seconds when you want to use WiFi to turn it back on but it will save a significant amount of battery life.
Turn Personal Hotspot Off When Not Using It
Same theory as WiFi applies to Personal Hotspot. It's another power drain and isn't really needed when your walking around the supermarket.
To turn it off go to Settings > Personal Hotspot and switch to Off. Same procedure to turn back On.
Turn Siri Off
This is the big one. Siri swallows power like a Ferrari drinks petrol.
Unless you use Siri at least 2 - 3 times a day you can probably do without it, (entertaining yourself/friends by asking her silly questions doesn't count). Even more so outside US where Maps and Locations don't work.
Siri is constantly indexing and sending information to Apple in order to help her help you, which drains power. Turning her off will help a HUGE amount.
To turn it off go to Services > General > Siri then turn it Off. You will get a whole load of warnings about your the information Siri uses being deleted from Apple's servers but this is nothing to worry about. None of your information will be lost on your phone or from iCloud etc is just Siri information that is deleted and if you ever turn it back on (when iOS 6 gets released for instance) then the information will be recompiled.
Using this tweaks, or at least a mixture of them, I've managed to increase my battery life from 15 - 20 minutes per % to 30 - 35 per %. Over a full charge this has worked out at lasting about 55 hours on a charge which average usage. That means a little gaming, text, emailing checking apps occasionally, and making a few phone calls.
EDIT
In response to a recent article from Huffington Post that I read regarding Tech Myth's (linky here), where it said, from information based on an article form another source, that killing apps doesn't make a difference to battery life. The information presented by the Huffington Post in right for the most part, most apps don't drain battery life however as I stated killing apps does help as some will still drain power through Location Based services that they don't deactivate till they are killed.
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