BlackBerry Curve 8330

Question: I read that when your phone is running on 1xEV that it is continuously checking for EVDO and that it runs your battery life down faster....If that's the case, mine is always running that...is there a way to get it to stop so that I can have a longer battery life?

Also, are you able to send mms msgs on this phone without having to send an email. Can I send picture msgs through a normal mms or can it only be sent through email?

Thanks a lot, Sarah