Offline Wikipedia is a requirement of many for sure. More so in developing countries, where internet can be quite unreliable. I had suggested talking to mobile operators/manufacturers to provide preloaded offline Wikipedia.
Seeing this information about size makes this difficult to implement.
Solutions may be:
1. Arrange to make separate files for 8-10 Basic categories e.g. Science, Commerce, Personalities, Arts, etc.
Not everyone needs everything.
2. I personally feel current events articles are way too much expanded. Size vs. value ratio is far less for recent or ongoing events. e.g. try reading US presidential campaign coverage at this time, now that elections are over. Is there a way to shunt out/ such material from offline version?
3. I Agree that images etc. need to be checked. These may be made available after connecting. (Maybe illustrations etc. may be kept in offline).
I am working for Hindi Wiki and I believe that in order to make Wikipedia popular, offline versions are must. If they can be preloaded in phones, we'll surely gain millions of new contributors.
Regards,
U:Anamdas.