When I first bought my CMD J70 a year ago, was I excited. It stood out among the other phones which used to play the same monotonic ’Saare jahan se accha’ or ’Jingle bells’ ring tones over and over. The polyphonic sounds in this phone were really different - but that’s about it. Sometimes, you could hardly hear the ring tone!! It is very feeble, except for a couple of ring tones, which you could not stand to hear as these were not melodies - just a cacophonic mix!!
The best part of the phone is the big graphic display screen (with good fonts) and the jog dial. On the flip side, if the jog dial is malfunctioning, you might as well throw the phone overboard. The reception is pretty poor and could never compare with the earlier Nokia phones that I used. The worst part was - the phone would go to sleep at times!! You will then have to remove and replace the battery as no key would function.
Phone book entries are very good and you can assign upto 3 numbers per entry. You can also assign Group Icons (family, golf partner, customer etc.). Typing in messages are also fantastic, with soft keys and a well-laid menu for symbols. The sound recorder is a sheer waste. You can shout into the microphone or try recording a song by keeping the mic in front of a speaker - and play it back with disastrous effects!! The games, scheduler, clock and other features try to make up slightly for the demerits.
In short, the CMD J70 is not worthy of being called a Sony product.