unknown icon at top of iphone next to the % icon of battery life

Could you perhaps describe the icon, could it be a clock.

Have you looked at the manual that shows all the icons and what they mean.
Since you didn't tell us what it looks like, sort of makes it hard for us to tell you.

If its a little purple arrow, its the GPS location icon.

At a guess, an arrow? Page 18 of 244 in the iPhone iOS4 User Guide...

Or portrait mode lock. Does it look like a round arrow thing?

If so, double click your home buttom and swipe all the way over to the left to the ipod controls. You'll see one silver icon which looks similar to what you're seeing on the screen. Tap to unlock portrait mode.

Or orientation lock of arrow in circle.

This is fun guessing one of the many icons it could be.

Don't ya love when somebody asks a question with no info, and doesn't come back to actually give more info? LOL! Usually makes me think troll, but this one seems more like moron! Sorry, just can't resist because he left himself wide open for the criticism!

tonefox wrote:
At a guess, an arrow? Page 18 of 244 in the iPhone iOS4 User Guide...

There's a user guide? OMG.
Oh wait...What's a user guide? 😀