Free portable instant messaging & audio/video calls for Windows, web, Android and J2ME

Question

EDIT: I've changed my requirements. Also, Linphone didn't help me.

I'm looking for a free, cross-platform, portable instant messaging service with which I can:

• Send instant messages
• Have emoticons
• Send files and photos
• Audio call and video call (at least on PC and Android)
• Record chatlogs (at least on PC)
• Not take up so much RAM like Skype sometimes to the level of inoperability

...on these platforms:

• Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit
• Android 4.0 or above
• Java 2 Micro Edition (like for Sony Ericsson K510i and above, including C510 and W705)
• Ubuntu Linux
• FreeBSD

...either via:

• Opera Mini web browser on mobiles
• Opera Web Browser for PC
• At least one of the standard browsers for Ubuntu and FreeBSD
• Application

Existing, but obsolete IM was Windows Live Messenger + eBuddy which worked for all Windows, Androids, Java enabled phones and even web browsers. I could stay logged in on my PC with Windows Live Messenger to log chats while being outside and chatting on my J2ME phone using eBuddy. eBuddy was however limited from sending files, pictures and calling. Windows Live Messenger was the best until Microsoft bought Skype and all WLM users had to use it or download Messenger Reviver

Do you know if any other exists?

Answer 1

A list of all portable messengers can be located at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_instant_messaging_clients.

It is broken down by features, OS, etc. Anything you need will be located here.

Answer 2

If you can do without emoticons, Linphone would be worth a look:

^{Linphone on Android (source: Google Play; click images for larger variants)}

I'm using this on Android and am quite satisfied – though I by far don't use all the features you've requested, so I cannot give my opinion on all of them. It's said to be one of the best when it comes to video quality.

Let's see how it meets your requirements:

• Send instant messages: Yes.
• Have emoticons: Not that I've found them, so probably no. Smileys are "converted", though, as the screenshots show.
• Send files and photos: photos definitely (see second screenshot), for files I'm not sure
• Audio call and video call: Yes.
• Record chatlogs: Didn't try that yet, but I'm pretty positive here.
• Not take up so much RAM like Skype sometimes to the level of inoperability: Never encountered that.
• Supports platforms...: Except for the Java one, yes. Not sure whether there are solutions to include that one as well.

Linphone is fully SIP compatible, so it can be used with any SIP provider. They run their own service, though, so you could use that as comparable to the "Skype registry" as "central point". Linphone is free and open source (the Android app e.g. is also available via F-Droid).

For additional details, you might wish to visit the Wikipedia page on Linphone, and also the Linphone homepage.

---

For an alternative, Fring might be worth a look as well: multi-platform, multi-protocol (in the past even supported Skype). There's an Android app available ("Free Calls, Group Calls, Texting, Video, Group Video, and more!"), but I found no detailed information on other platforms other than it's being "cross platform".