Hi @parhusip
Of course, getting opinions is always good, if you are lucky someone might just have a good idea 
With regards to the statement above, I can provide you with a use case we had for this. We are monitoring current consumed by devices in a factory. We need ‘live’ results which in this case mean concurrent readings in as small instances as possible. To achieve this, we are taking 1000 readings per second, calculate an average and then save this data. The Data is then send in intervals to Google Cloud where it is later used to load balance production lines.
If for some reason the WiFi in the factory goes down, we still needs this data. In full Automatic mode, the devices would not be recording the data in the absence of cloud connection. In Semi-Automatic mode (or Manual) the data is recorded regardless of cloud status. Once connection has been established, data is then sent through.
Another case might be when using Cellular data in these type of devices. I am not sure of cellular costs around there world, but here we surely do not want a cellular device posting data every second
In this case we accumulate data for an hour and then post.
Last case I can think of is to conserve battery life when devices are powered by solar and Lipo. In semi-Automatic you can have your device do what it needs to so without having the have the cellular radio active, this way consuming a lot less energy. Every hour or so the radio can connect and you can send data.
Hope this helps 
Friedl.