JohnnyUMF,

No CX plane is yet flying with the new J seats, so no-one here has experienced them yet. As you said, the current long-haul J seats come in the traditional side-by-side layout.

The philosophy for the new J seats (as with other airlines with the herringbone arrangement) seems to be that most long haul business class travellers travel alone, and for the rare cases where they are together there is an "ottoman" which can be used by a second person within each seating area.