Opinions differ on the subject of improving battery life. I don't think OS version can make a significant difference, though others may disagree. I think you are really limited to the usual stuff (lower screen brightness and timeout to minimum tolerable, turn off wifi and Bluetooth, don't have apps running and updating that aren't absolutely necesarry, that sort of thing).

The frequent device pausing is not normal. If it is happening when you start app world, that is probably something you habe to live with. But if it is happening a lot when browsing or reading email, something is wrong and needs to be corrected.
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