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In a rare coup, five months ago Sprint started offering Palm's latest Palm OS Treo, the 755p, before fellow CDMA/EV-DO carrier Verizon wireless. A coup Sprint just repeated with the roll out of another Palm smartphone, the entry-level Centro, this week.

Well, it looks like Verizon, the country's second largest mobile operator, has been beaten to the punch yet again. This time by distant number five carrier Alltel; which, like sprint, is now carrying the 755p.

It is offering the 755p for $299.95 with a two-year contract and after $180 instant and $100 mail-in rebates.

Alltel is only carrying the blue version of the 755p, which means Sprint is still the only carrier with the burgundy edition.

As for Verizon, leaked pictures of the 755p with its logo appeared this summer, confirming it would eventually offer the smartphone as well. In addition, what is supposed to be Verizon roadmap leaked last week. The 755p, along with a couple of other smartphones, was on it. All indications point towards the beginning of November as when Verizon will finally deliver Palm's highest end Palm OS smartphone for CDMA/EV-Do carriers.

As with other recent Treos and the just launched Centro, the 755p loses earlier models' external antenna for an internal type. It also has a QWERTY thumb-keyboard and a high-resolution 320 x 320 pixel resolution touch display.

The smartphone is 3G-enabled through support for CDMA operators' EV-DO (Evolution Data Optimized network) cellular-wireless networks. This high-speed technology carries content - video, e-mail, pictures, etc. - at average rates of 400 to 700 kilobits per second.

Specifications for the 755p include a 312 MHz XScale processor, 128MB of non-volatile RAM (60 MB user available), a miniSD memory card slot for up to 4 GB of additional storage, a 1.3 megapixel camera for picture and video, a 1600mAh Li-Ion battery, and Bluetooth.

You may use the 755p as a modem for a laptop to connect to the Internet or enterprise through a wireless Bluetooth or wired USB connection.

The 755p is Palm's first Palm OS Treo to offer built-in e-mail support for Microsoft's Direct Push technology through the device's VersaMail application.

Google Maps for directions, local searches, moveable/scalable maps, satellite imagery, and traffic updates is built right into the 755p's ROM.

Palm also bundles its threaded SMS/MMS application (something similar was just shipped with Apple's iPhone), which allows you to view messages in a single chat view. You surf the Web through the Netfront browser from ACCESS and read/edit native Microsoft Office and PDF files through DataViz's Documents To Go Version 8.