Now that KitKat is finally out in the world, we're finding all sorts of little tweaks that make the new OS nicer to use. Google didn't give this particular feature a big headline on the Android site, but maybe it should have. Android 4.4 now lets you access your notifications from any full-screen app. This is a feature Samsung has included in TouchWiz for a while, so it's not entirely new to the world of Android.
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This is a seriously useful feature if you spend any amount of time in an app or game that hides the status bar. You might hear a notification tone, but you can't even see what icons have popped up. So what? Leave the app just to see the notification? Nonsense. In Android 4.4 you can swipe down from the top of the screen to show the semi-transparent status bar, then swipe again to open the full notifications.
This will actually freeze the app or game you're running so you don't miss anything. When you get you hands on KitKat, don't forget to try this out.