The iOS 5 notification shade is reminiscent of the notification shade that we’ve had in Android for years. While Apple has added some basic widget functionality through Stocks and Weather, your ability to customize the look of the notification area is pretty limited. If you have a jailbroken iOS 5 device, consider installing BlurriedNCBackground, which adds a gorgeous blurred translucency to your shade. Performance will take a bit of a hit, though, with a possible delay when you bring down the notification shade, but this can be remedied with some changes to the blur settings within the app.

Source: RedmondPie