I assume you are talking about the tablet UI layout? I’m pretty sure that the way the navigation and notifications work on 7" is just like the phone whereas bigger screens like 10" devices use the traditional tablet UI with everything at the bottom. It’s a screen size thing, and just changes according to the space it has available.
Most Android devices have navigation bar (Home, Back, Search buttons) etched into the glass right below the screen, they don’t provide any feedback and take away from a seamless experience.
Since the release of the Galaxy Nexus, I still don’t understand why OEMs are putting hardware navigation buttons on the phones. I expect all Nexus devices to have on-screen navigation buttons.