No transparent status and menu bar with Lollipop update on Nexus 7

[SpaceDroid]

Minor quibble but got me thinking about the screen. Are the few hundred pixels at the top and bottom permanently blacked out on the Nexus 7 & 10 for status and menu. Seems like that little bit of real estate can be used to accentuate material design a bit more.

 

[YAYTech]

What launcher are you using? I don't have L yet, so I can't really answer the question, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's launcher-specific.