Motorola has officially announced the Photon Q smartphone that showed up in the FCC database earlier this month. The phone, which runs Android 4.0 on Sprint's newly-launched LTE network, bears relatively little resemblance to the Photon 4G it's succeeding. Instead, the Photon Q comes with a rare hardware keyboard, meaning it's almost certainly the QWERTY Sprint device shown here. Beyond that, the Q comes with a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, NFC, and a 4.3-inch screen. It's got an 8-megapixel rear camera with 1080p video capture and a front-facing "HD" one that we assume shoots video in 720p. These are some pretty solid specs, even if the slide-out keyboard makes it look a little chunky. Unfortunately, there's no pricing or launch date; the phone is listed as "coming soon."

Update: We've got a bit more information on the Photon Q. The phone will come with a 540 x 960 ColorBoost screen, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage expandable via microSD. It also supports HDMI "mirror mode," which lets users plug the phone into a larger screen, though there's no accompanying LapDock-style accessory. Annoyingly, it will also include the Sprint ID interface on top of Android, and the SIM is non-removable.