Sprint today announced HTC EVO Shift 4G with slide-out QWERTY keyboard, which will be available starting January 9 for $149.99 with two year contract.

“Sprint will continue to set the bar for feature-rich and customer-friendly 4G devices into 2011,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO. “Our proven leadership as a 4G pioneer has allowed our customers to enjoy 4G from Sprint first, and these new products exemplify Sprint’s commitment to put industry-leading performance and capabilities in the hands of our customers.”

HTC EVO Shift 4G features 3.6-inch touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera, 720p video recording, WiFi with Hotspot support, Bluetooth, GPS and microSD card slot. The Android 2.2 based handset will come with Flash support and social networking integration for Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

HTC EVO Shift will be just $149.99 (excluding taxes) after a $100 mail-in rebate and activation on a new two-year service agreement (or eligible upgrade), and activation on a data plan with the required $10 Premium Data Add-On.