Mobile video is supposed to be one of the services that increases carrier data revenues and replaces voice as a money maker for the cellcos. Video on your mobile phone isn't quite ready for prime time yet, however, and here's why.

1. Video kills your battery life
Heavy Reading analyst Gabriel Brown has been testing Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD)'s 7 Mbit/s 3G upgrade in London and finding that battery life, not network speed, is what will stop users downloading all the video they can consume. (See Vodafone's Blazin' 3G Upgrade.)

"Mobile video is great, but it kills your battery," Brown tells Unstrung. "You can only watch a couple of clips a day before charge-anxiety sets in."

Developers would be wise to note this. "Applications that can cope with being disconnected or can stay live in idle mode without consuming too much power will be much more usable and successful," Brown says.

2. Video can flatten the network
Conversely, users with a laptop and a 3G card -- a setup less subject to battery life concerns than phones -- can eat capacity on carrier networks with video downloads, uploads, and peer-to-peer (P2P) applications.

That's why Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) is planning to put a 5 GByte cap on data users on its "mobile broadband" and "phone as modem" flat-rate data plans starting July 13. A Sprint spokeswoman says that a "very small percentage" of computer users on the plans were using lots of data, typically with P2P traffic. Other carriers in the U.S. have also capped some of their data plans.

Heavy Reading's Brown says there is less concern about phones taking too much network capacity. "Charge anxiety is a natural hedge for operators offering flat-rate data plans, because it stops users consuming too much data on their handsets," he says. This could change as video-capable phones become more widespread.

3. It's too expensive
Mobile video can be an expensive little pastime. At the base level, users are looking at a $200 smartphone and a $60 -- or more -- data plan to watch video. These costs can rise if you want to watch on a fancy iPhone or Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) N-series handset. This isn't even taking into account any premium downloads that content providers and carriers offer.

4. Too many formats
There are just too many formats that a mobile video developer can potentially write to. For instance, Flash Lite from Adobe Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: ADBE) seems to be popular and a natural choice for developers, since popular sites like YouTube Inc. use the format for their videos. Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), however, has made it clear it isn't keen on the Flash format. What's a content developer to do? (See Microsoft Gets Flashed and iPhone & YouTube.)

5. User-generated crap
Weird things happen when people get creative with their cellphones, as this video shows:



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6. Jitter Buggin'
Mobile video can still give you a headache.

Heavy Reading's Brown says there continue to be issues with the picture quality of mobile video. To a certain extent, this is to be expected, particularly with streaming video and TV. The shared nature of wireless networks will always mean bandwidth compromises, even with bigger pipes. Jitter and delays in transmission can affect almost anything you do with a cellphone, from making calls to streaming music and video.

7. Promoting more iPhone envy
The data revenue figures show that users of the iPhone watch more video than most of the rest of us. (See The iPhone's Fat ARPU.)8. Video encourages noise pollution
The endless repeats of Family Guy clips can get a little jarring for the rest of us that so selfishly decided to share the subway car with you.

9. Nobody likes a cheater
But YouTube and mobile video make it all too easy.

10. You'll go blind
Small screens, bright colors, and jitter make mobile video hard on the eyes. Oh yeah, and cellphone pornography is growing in popularity, too.

— Dan Jones, Site Editor, Unstrung