Remember that cool “face unlock” feature in Android Ice Cream Sandwich Google unveiled at its Galaxy Nexus launch event in Hong Kong? Well, to no one’s surprise, the feature isn’t all that secure after all. The way this thing is suppose to work is users set their phone to recognize their face, when done they can use the front-facing camera to unlock the phone by correctly matching the first image ever set up on the service.
Unfortunately, everyone’s fear has come true when it comes to unauthorized access to the device. It turns out that this cool feature can be duped with a simple picture. This might put a damper on things far as bragging rights is concerned with what operating system holds the best tricked out security feature. I must say that no one I’ve talked to looks at this feature as a top notch addition to Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 anyway, so this discovering won’t change people’s mindset on the matter.
That said, we must first check on whether or not this “face unlock” thing is meant for real security or just for show. I happen to agree with Rob Jackson of Phandroid, when he suggests that the feature isn’t necessarily all about security, but instead “It’s about elegant simplicity.”
[via Phandroid]