1. Is Samsung specific I think. On my Nexus S pulling the notification drawer down has a button that launches the Settings app but doesn't have the settings right there. My wifes Samsung S3 does however.
If you pull down with two fingers (a bit counterintuitive, I'll admit), it'll open the settings app directly. You can also toggle the default notification drawer and the settings app by tapping the icon in the top right corner.
I chose to install Widgetsoid - it places a couple of toggles directly into the notification drawer. I never got Airplane Mode to work, though.
My Nexus 4 has this feature by default, perhaps it was a Jelly Bean addition? Very much like having it there since getting my N4, I used to use a 3rd party widget for this purpose (powerstrip if anyone is interested), but it's largely been superseded by this (even though powerstrip is still great)
