Evo 4G compared to LTE

[jejb]

I am nearing the end of my 2 year contract for my Sprint Evo 4G. I think they are referred to as OG Evo's for some reason? OG = Original? Anyway, it's been a GREAT phone. Wife got one at the same time. I rooted both of them, installed Sprint Lovers Rom and have basically done nothing else since except refuse updates and install/uninstall apps. I rooted it to be able to do wifi tether, which I depend on at times.

The only real reason I'm thinking of getting the 4G LTE version is the camera. The camera on the Evo 4G just flat sucks. My only complaint on the phone, but a big one as I am outdoors a lot, like to take pictures a lot, and would like to get away from carrying a point and shoot in addition to my phone. I've played with settings until I'm blue in the face, and get the occasional decent picture, but it's just not good. I want a very good camera and it seems this phone has one, by all official reviews I've seen on it.

But I also read on the 4G LTE forums a lot of reports of more dropped calls, connectivity and slow data issues compared to other phones like the Evo 3D. Where I live, all we have is 3G. I've done some speednet tests on it and get in the area of 1.25mb down, .30mb up currently. That works for what I need. We will likely not see LTE anytime soon, if ever, here at the house (in the Ozark Mts of Arkansas).

Am I likely to see performance impacts if I go to the 4G LTE? If so, has anyone done comparisons to see how much is lost? I really, really, really want a better camera, but not if it's going to make calls and/or tethering worse.

Sorry if this has been done before.