Saturday, September 22, 2012

10. The Disconcerting Brilliance of the iPhone 5



On September 21st, Will Oremus wrote about Apple’s new iPhone 5. However, instead of encouraging people to buy the highly regarded smartphone, he argues against the purchase of this product. Oremus opens his essay by showing how many people feel the strong desire to have an iPhone 5 and includes his personal status regarding the possession of Apple’s smartphones. He then compliments the device stating its improvements and agrees that it is a “wonderful piece of machinery by any standard.” The iPhone5 does have some small flaws, “but it’s closer to perfection than any smartphone has ever been” according to Oremus. For him, he is “a little concerned that he’ll never pry my nose from the screen.” He is afraid that all these new tools and the ability of the iPhone5 to do more things will cause people to become distracted from real life and to worry too much, instead of relaxing. In the end Oremus says, “The iPhone 5 is merely the finest exemplar yet of the phone that can do it all—except for all the things in life that you really need to do.”

The author’s purpose in writing this article was to persuade his readers to realize that the iPhone5 is not something people need to buy and that it may be better to not buy it. Will Oremus’s tone is definitely informal with the uses of certain words and questions, slangs, contractions, and personal pronouns (“Oh, it’s a great gadget”, “remember that?”, “gizmo”.) To aid his persuasion, besides using the informal tone, he praises the smartphone in order to stay in friendly terms with the readers, especially those who really want to buy the iPhone. When he says “It gave me an excuse to simply enjoy the view” the word view makes it seem that the world outside the iPhone is appreciating and “better to look at” than a smatphone screen. Also, he uses his personal experience with iPhones to express his feelings and for his readers to be able relate to him, and maybe agree with him.

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