I think the excitement is in being able to "future-proof" your phone - with these specs + LTE capability, I don't think they will be "outdated" any time soon.
Right now LTE doesn't have much of a network, but for people living in the big cities where it's up and running, that doesn't matter. It's a lot faster than 3G and HSPA+. Also, AT&T is in competition with the other carriers so you can be sure they will be expanding their LTE network to keep up.
LTE is a battery drain? Where did you read that?