You people really need to calm down. This "false advertising" will never stand up in court. Yes I'm really annoyed that Ovi maps on the N900 has no auto re-routing or voice guidance but "free navigation", even a primitive form of turn by turn, it does have.

Can we stop the b******g and moaning.

I'm in the UK so will only be addressing this from a UK legal perspective.

The sale of goods act 1979, with 1994 ammendments states that.

When you go shopping anything you buy is covered by a law called the Sale of Goods Act 1979. This means that when you buy a product it should be:

* as described
* fit for purpose
* of satisfactory quality

As described

This means that the item you buy should be the same as any description of it. A description could be what the seller has said to you about the item or something written in a brochure.
Fit for purpose

What you buy should be able to do the job that it was made for. Also, goods should be fit for any specific purpose you agreed with the seller at the time of sale. For example, if you were looking to buy a printer and asked the seller if it would work with your computer then that advice has to be correct.
Satisfactory quality

Goods that are of satisfactory quality are:

* free from minor defects (problems)
* of a good appearance and finish
* strong and safe

It goes on to say that the goods MUST be of equal quality to and demo products/services.

The OVI maps advert says free navigation, and shows lesser spec'd devices running full blown sat nav by means of OVI maps 3.5.
It is therefore justifyable to believe this device should also have maps 3.5.

Incorrect. You can't just say "that device has this capability, so this device must have it too!", it just doesn't work like that. If it did I'd be rich: I'd just sue everyone around for not providing everything possible, like for example I see plenty of lesser specced devices running Windows Mobile, therefore I am justified to get Windows Mobile too on my N900. Sounds reasonable? No? That's what I thought.

forget all the legal wrangling of false advertising or not - engaging in forum wars here is like the special olympics....

If you dont like the N900 and feel cheated, then just never buy a Nokia again, and recommend to all your friends and family also not to buy Nokia again. Tell them to buy a Andriod or iphone or blackberry or what not instead.

Nokia is not going to give a **** what you post here - they already stated they never read this site or care what about the opinions of those posting here. See the long running controversies about Flash and Ovi store (Ovi Store for n900 is much better example of Nokia **** spin IMO)

Stop wasting your time, go out and breath some fresh air and buy and enjoy another phone instead.

It still sucks because when I hear FREE navigation and I buy and I realize that I have the maps but have to pay to search I feel kinnda cheated.

It's just plain wrong to be dropped in a random spot in the world and be unable to get back, or help, or anywhere else because maps, search and routing is unavailable.

I think it is based on a half-truth, namely, "navigation". This implies a set of features. And searching and routing and local maps are, IMO, required.

Is it still a car if it has no doors and seatbelts?

Exactly!

From NOKIA's website:
"Ovi Maps – Free navigation forever on Nokia smartphones."

So is the N900 not a NOKIA smartphone?

Pay to search? How come?

Searching works fine, and that it draws a clear, red line on the map from point A to B does sound like routing to me. And local maps? Yes, I have that too. Just install Ovi Suite and download the maps you want. It is silly that it requires you to open a 3G/2G connection to search, but if you have the maps downloaded it actually doesn't use the connection for anything.

Becuase offline mode doesn't work so you always need an internet connection to search for an address, which costs some users money!

Nail on the head. ROUTING NOT NAVIGATION!

Having the connection open doesn't cost money, only transmitting or receiving data does. And as I said, if you have downloaded the maps to your phone it actually doesn't use the connection for anything even if it is open.

No but it is misleading marketing.
I don't know what the laws in Finland are like, but here in the UK things like that are not acceptable!