* It takes 20 seconds of buffering just to start. * Assuming it's 360p, it runs for about a minute or two, then starts to buffer again. If it's higher, it lasts even less. * The video starts to buffer again. This takes another 20 seconds. * This repeats until the end of the video. * My phone company charges me €2 for data used in excess of my daily allowance.
My home internet connection is mostly the same experience, except I can watch a 480p video, and I don't get charged €2 for it.
A lot of places that I might be don't even get EDGE coverage, never mind 3G or anything better. For 25 of the 30 minutes of my most common bus trip, I don't have 3G coverage.
Here's what happens when I watch a video of any quality on my microSD card.
* I open the video in my video player. * The video plays, without interruption, until the end.
I'll be sticking with local storage for a while yet.
My younger brother has filled up two 16GB iPod Touches (second gen and fourth gen) with music and videos.
My extremely non-technical father has filled up the 8GB SD card his phone came with, with just music. I'm sure if he could, he'd use more space but a €30 microSD card is more than he's consider spending on phone extras considering he paid €90 for the phone on prepay.
People use more storage than you think. If it was not a big deal, why would phone companies use it as the sole upsell towards their more expensive phones?