Side-by-side, the two Qwerty devices from Sprint have some similarities, including five rows of keys, a feature that was important to Sprint, which wants to offer users a smartphone keyboard that's similar to a PC keyboard.

The Mach has a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and a 4-in. screen, while the Photon has a 1.5 GHz dual core and a 4.3-in. display.

Both run 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. Owens didn't offer any upgrade plans to Jelly Bean, however.

Sprint sells its LTE devices along with its well-known offer of unlimited voice, text and data. The Mach and Photon require an Everything Data plan which starts at $80 a month.

Owens said Sprint is now offering LTE in 24 cities with 100 more cities "in coming months" and said the carrier "has no plans to move away from unlimited plans" even as the LTE network becomes more crowded with users. "Our pricing structure and value proposition is unlimited," he said.