According to AnandTech, the Nexus 4 gets about half the battery life while browsing on 3G compared to the iPhone5 on LTE.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6425/google-nexus-4-and-nexus-...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6425/google-nexus-4-and-nexus-...
> As always we test across multiple air interfaces (3G, 4G LTE, WiFi), but due to the increased network load we actually find that on a given process technology we see an increase in battery life on faster network connections. The why is quite simple to understand: the faster a page is able to fully render, the quicker all components can drive down to their idle power states.
If you compare the Nexus 4 on 3G (4.18) and the iPhone 5 on 3G (4.55), the scores are actually very close.
In this particular benchmark, it is very clear that LTE is the winner across the board. In 'real world usage', I have to disagree. I'm sure anyone with an LTE phone will tell you that disabling the LTE radio absolutely gives a boost in day-to-day battery life.
This has been my experience as well. I find that in every day use, especially in areas not saturated with strong LTE, it can become a battery suck.
I'm certain downloading a 200 mb PDF over LTE in Manhattan takes less power than downloading that PDF over HSDPA+, GSM, or GPRS. But in my experience with several devices, having LTE on all day in Fairfield County, finding it sometimes but often not, takes more power in so-called "standby".