One of my requirements was that it had to support Skype and be able to back up chats, ideally to the cloud. To me, every message is very valuable.
Trillian
Of all the IM clients for Windows, this one seems to me the most advanced.
The Pro version can back up contacts to the cloud and shows no ads. It costs 20 CZK per month or 225 CZK per year. A lifetime license costs 60 USD, which comes to 1127.760 CZK in our money. I don’t think that’s a reasonable price for a little IM program, even though Trillian is really good.
For now, though, the Android version doesn’t support Skype, although work on it may already be underway.
IMO.IM
The flaw of this solution is that there is no Windows client, so on Windows you would have to chat on the web. Another minus is that it doesn’t save chat history to the memory card, so you have to make do with what it stores online on its own servers. On the other hand, its pluses are that it isn’t “mean” to the battery, it’s free and IM conversations are saved to the web. The biggest plus, however, is Skype support. There used to be an official Chrome notifier for the web version, but they cut it off and it no longer works.
IM+
A small advantage of this client is that it is subjectively beautiful. I also couldn’t find any chat logs on the memory card. The biggest drawback is heavy battery drain. On top of that, Skype only works if you pay for the Skype package or buy IM+ Pro outright.
Conclusion
In the end I decided on some free IM client for Android and for Windows. On Windows it will be Google Talk and Digsby, on Android the mobile GTalk and IMO.im. This way I won’t have to give the password to anyone but Google for my main Google Account, and at the same time contacts from the same account won’t get mixed up on my phone, where every byte and mAh counts. And as a bonus, my conversations will be backed up to my Jabbim account and to my IMO.im account at the same time 🙂
As for login collisions: when someone sends a message to my jabbim.cz account and I’m logged into Digsby, it arrives on the PC; when I’m not logged into Digsby, it arrives on the phone. So as long as I don’t forget to log out, it will be ideal. Unfortunately, imo.im doesn’t display avatars correctly in the vast majority of cases (right now I have only 1 ICQ contact and the rest are Skype contacts – ICQ displays fine, Skype doesn’t, but that is more likely a problem with the Skype.jabbim.cz transport; in Digsby, for example, it does display avatars, but the contacts always show as offline), but I’m not on my phone all that often, so it doesn’t bother me that much.
What I like about imo.im is switching between active conversations. What I don’t like is the delay of about 5 seconds between someone sending me a message from Skype and it reaching me. For now, though, I’ll leave it as it is; it won’t get any better right now 🙂 Besides, this way I’ll be able to spend the credit on my SIM cards, because Jabbim VIP can also be paid for by text message :).