Best pure Android tablets

The advantages of a tablet running pure Android are simple; no manufacturer bloatware or custom interfaces, and more control over what you can do with your slate. Android customization options are so great, manufacturers often offer a unique overlay on their Android devices (like Samsung's TouchWiz), but those can constrain your options as well.

If you know which apps, widgets, and themes you'd like -- or if you'd like freedom to choose-- a pure Android OS gives you a fresh slate (pun intended) to start with. The Google Play store is still catching up to Apple's robust App Store in terms of available apps, but second place isn't that bad, especially if you're uninterested in a restrictive operating system.

We've gathered the best tablets running vanilla Android and, though not all offer the latest version, they offer the stock option that puts most of the control in your hands (literally).

Budget tablets sometimes offer tons of software features to make up for poor build quality, but Dell plays it cool and offers a refreshing combination of pure Android on a simple, no-frills slate. The 8-inch Venue tablet offers the basics, with the plus of a microSD card, all for an appropriate starting price. This budget tablet is genuinely a great deal. Read the full review of the Dell Venue 8.

LG took a short break from tablets, but they seem to have kissed and made up in a fabulous way. The LG G Pad 8.3 comes in a Google Play Edition that runs a vanilla version of Android 4.3 and, though there's also a version of the LG G Pad 8.3 with LG's overlay, the supersleek build matched with the no-frills stock Android OS make a brute combination. Read the full review of the LG G Pad 8.3 Google Play Edition.

The Nexus 7 is one of the best small tablets, thanks to speedy specs and competitive pricing, and it also offers a pure version of Android. Since it's a Google-branded tablet, it gets the latest OS updates as soon as they're ready to roll out and it currently runs the KitKat 4.4 OS. Read the full review of the Google Nexus 7.

The Nexus 10 was so precocious, it's still relevant today despite being two years old. The 10-incher set a precedent for large tablets and newer slates are still trying to catch up to the its 2,560x1,600-pixel resolution. Google hasn't announced a replacement for 2012's model, but the current one is doing just fine -- still. Read the full review of the Google Nexus 10.