Info On Android v4: Google Gives Us More

Per last Wednesday's writeup on Google's unveiling of "Ice Cream Sandwich" Android 4, which embeds both facial detection and recognition facilities, I've subsequently come across some additional details which I thought would be of interest to you:

• AnandTech published a solid summary of the new O/S release, which it based in part on the 4.0 Highlights section of the Android SDK website
• Wired Magazine also has an excellent, detailed "Ice Cream Sandwich" writeup, including an interview with Hiroshi Lockheimer, Android Vice President of Engineering
• Ars Technica's SDK "First Look" focuses on the new face recognition APIs.
• Speaking of the SDK, it's now available for download, as a post from the Android Developer's Blog makes evident, and
• Here's something that I admittedly hadn't considered... Android's Face Unlock feature might be fooled by a photograph of a person, held in front of a smartphone or tablet's front-facing camera. Whether this is actually the case or not is unclear; well-known Google employee Tim Bray initially indicated "nope", but two days later, this is what an unnamed Google spokesperson supposedly told SlashGear:

“[Face Unlock] will only get better” we were told by a Google representative when we questioned the potential for fooling the system with a still image. Using a photograph to unofficially log in “might work” they conceded, but only because the technology is still relatively young.