I loved my J1, haha, I progressed through disposables - Compact digitals - Bridge - Compact system camera - DSLR
Camera phones all the way through - VGA to 12.1mp Sony Ericsson.
I wish I skipped the foreplay with regard to cameras, the J1 did increase my appetite for photography and taught me alot - But I did find myself quickly at its limits. Can take some fantastic shots with it! - I was proud of my night photography in Sweden with it.
If I could turn back the hands of time I'd have gone for a 2nd hand DSLR that was a few years old and started from there and bypassed the Nikon 1.
I had the 10-30mm and the 30-110mm - I felt like there wasn't anything I couldn't take a photo of and all the other Nikon 1 Specific lenses were insanly over my budget and the conversion adapter to Nikon F-mount was also mega bucks.
Fantastic cameras! - but take them as they are. If a DSLR is required, get a DSLR