My point is that with normal 3G use on a phone, people do not pound the download for hours on end, with either HD sling player which also uses the display, but even with streaming music will be actively running the LTE radio for hours. With LTE, they can so they do. With 3G, the burst speeds for stuff like a web page load is adequately fast but for streaming it can and often does stop to buffer. This becomes annoying so people just don't make a habit of it. With LTE, being so fast and capable, they will USE IT more and this use will be a heavier drain on the battery.
I did find that using the TBolt in a normal way, with the LTE radio in standby my battery lasts about the same as I had with my old htc TP2. But, there will be those days when my use will be heavy and therefore having the spare battery will be necessary, just as it was with the older TP2.
I downloaded the LTE on/off app and did a test Saturday with the phone in 3G all day and discovered that with the LTE radio off, and in 3G ( EVDO ) mode. the battery (1600mAh) was only down to 48% by midnight. Talk time was under 8 minutes all day. So, compared to the day before, yes, the LTE radio does add as suspected, to the battery drain, however, I don't consider it a game ender for LTE. Rather, now that I have the app switch, I can turn on LTE when I need it and conserve more when I don't. In effect, the shutting off of LTE when not needed, I could get nearly 24-30 hours of standby time with moderate e-mail and a few brief phone calls.
BTW- the app I used allowed for some interesting options. I can use LTE ON or put it in EVDO only ( LTE is off), or auto switch between radios depending on what service is available, the latter is what I believe is default factory.