Sony CMD-J6 Review

Overall Rating

Decent styling, light weight, recordable ringtones(exciting idea),recordable event sounds(alarm, SMS receival etc-again another exciting idea),3D menu system (little globe things rotating), generally a nice range of features.

Quality of recordable ringtones and sound isn't exactly brilliant-have to be persistent with getting a good recording! If you are writing a text message, and the network signal goes, you've lost your message! Originally you were meant to be able to download extra ringtones and wallpapers, but the software has been cancelled-and the possibility its going to come out in the future is not certain. May have the looks, but sadly it doesn't have the prestige that is usually given to Nokia phones, which isn't the J6's fault but because of Nokia's dominance- the J6 just isn't fantastically jaw-droppingly awesome enough to lure over Nokia lovers!

I bought the Sony CMD J6 as my second mobile phone, having tired of my first one after finding it to have lost that 'WOW! Factor' which makes you buy a particular phone. When looking for the J6, I attempted to take several things into consideration: -
1) The phone had to be desirable in terms of functionality and styling (Which the J6 was)
2) Had to be pocket friendly (The J6 is to some extent-it is light but has an ariel which some might not like).
3) Have good features which matched Nokia phones (The J6 is packed with essential- eg, SMS, useful- e.g., alarm, calculator as well as luxury features- e.g., recordable ringtones).
4) It had to stand out from the crowd of Nokia 3310/8210's (For every 100 Nokia users there must be 10 Sony users).
5) Not age quickly (unfortunately after just several months it is beginning to look like a 'basic, first time user's phone' due to the new phones which are coming out with much more better styling and features).
You can see that the J6 is a decent phone- it manages to perform well and offers value for money- especially now that you can get it for about £80 in most stores. Most people who will buy the J6 will have mixed responses to it. No doubt some will find it an enjoyable and fresh phone to use- the Jog Dial on the phone is a rare way to get around the phone for instance and some may find it takes time to get used to. An obvious big plus with the J6 is that as it has lots of features- picture and sound SMS, recordable ringtones, loudspeaker, 4 quite addictive games, for instance, users will find that it has a long lifespan and so will spend a fair amount of time with it before deciding to buy a new phone.
However, during that time spent with the J6, a lot of faults or rather annoyances pop up which can be highly problematic, as they will stop you from enjoying the phone fully. Firstly, the backlight is quite dim-when I saw pictures of the J6 the light was really clear and bright! The recordable ringtone quality is average most of the time, as sounds are not really sharp. Personalisation opportunities are limited, as Sony has cancelled the wallpaper/ringtone software. The phone comes with 2 lacklustre wallpapers (the display has the ability to show lots of detail in terms of pixels- there can be better wallpapers than a globe and a Sony Bird logo). The ringtones themselves aren't really cool- more like cute-but the sound effect, polyphonic, is good. Importantly people wanting a phone matching Nokia personalisation will be greatly put off-which is a shame as the J6 is capable of a lot.
To sum up the J6, it's a decent phone. It seems like an average phone compared to the new Nokia 8850's as well as actual Sony Z7s which people who hope to keep up with the latest in mobile technology and features will greatly take note of. For such people it's also worth noting that the J6 isn't really seen as a fantastic phone-you can buy it for about £80 in some shops. But for people who simply want to have a reliable phone that looks nice too-but don't want it to be groundbreaking, the J6 is a highly suitable option, as it will greatly please.