It’s no retina scan, but with the new Android OS, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich, all you need is a good look to unlock your data-treasure chest of a phone. The New York Times reports:

This comes under the general heading of “biometrics,” a highfalutin way of saying the phone has the ability to recognize you by physical characteristics. And face unlock isn’t the only example. Nuance, which makes voice recognition programs such as Dragon Dictate, has been demonstrating a voice lock called “Dragon ID,” which isn’t on any devices yet.

If you’re running Ice Cream Sandwich, go to your security settings for a walk-through activation. It’s not foolproof, so don’t forget to test it on your brother, sister, or closest doppelgänger.

The instructions will warn you that face unlock isn’t particularly secure, and that similar looking people may be able to unlock your phone. But in my test it worked better than advertised.