Facing threat from Apple's legal wrangling and Google's acquisition of Motorola, Samsung for a moment turned its attention from the problem child Android to focus on its in-house OS, Bada.

Korean phone maker announced three Bada-based phones just hours after releasing its messaging client ChatOn. The three phones are named Wave 3, Wave M and Wave Y.

The phones incorporate NFC-based mobile payment technology and the recently announced cross-platform communication service, ChatOn.

Wave 3 sports a 4-inch Super AMOLED display with 800X480 screen resolution, 1.4GHz chipset and a 5MP camera. It has 3GB internal memory features a metal case and is 0.38-inch thin.

Wave M has 3.65-inch HVGA display with 480x320 screen resolution and 5 MP camera. It offers 150MB onboard memory. It is powered by an 832MHz processor, Engadget reported.

Wave Y dons a 3.2-inch display and is powered by an 832MHz processor and has a 2MP camera.

The announcement reveals Samsung's change in strategy motivated by ambiguity surrounding the future of Android. Samsung has been Google's official partner as it manufactured its pure Android Gingerbread-based phone, the Nexus S. However, the partnership is under threat since Google acquired Motorola.

Android's open status has been under review over charges that Google maintains a certain level of control over the OS implementation. Android is free for developers building applications but it come with strings attached at the OEM end of the spectrum.

Google applies certain control tactics around Android handsets. Since Android has gained traction among phone manufacturers as an OS that gives room for differentiation at a low cost, Google uses this to its advantage. It makes available specific private code lines which are 6 months ahead of the public Software Development Kit (SDK), to the OEM manufacturers working on Android models, which allows them to stay competitive through differentiation. Thus it keeps the codes closed from non-partnering OEM.

This could take away the lead-time that Samsung enjoys. Hence Samsung is changing gears to focus on Bada, as the future of Android seems murky.

Also the legal hassles associated with Android are posing problems for Android makers. With Apple, Microsoft, RIM and Sony sitting on a pile of patents acquired from Nortel networks, Samsung fears more patent lawsuits coming the Android way.

In such a scenario Bada seems a good bet, even though rumors suggest that Samsung can bay for HP's recently discarded WebOS.

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