I have sideloaded a couple of android tablet apps onto my android tv and I sometimes like to browse on the tv. At the moment I’m using a mouse to control the cursor but this is less than ideal when kicking back horizontally on the sofa. I end up trying to use my beer gut as a mouse pad and it just gets annoying.
From searching this sub I’ve seen the ‘Mad Katz ctrl’ has mouse function but what does this actually mean? There’s loads of nicer controllers around that don’t look and sound like they’ve been designed by Poochie, surely many of them have ‘mouse function’.
TL:DR, Can any gamepad be used to control a mouse cursor in web browser/ apps designed for tablets?
No, not just any gamepad will do this, as far as I am aware. Mouse and gamepad are two entirely separate input devices under standard HID definition. The Nvidia Shield has special software built in to enable its controller to emulate a mouse in non-TV apps, but I don't think it works with any other gamepads.
The Mad Catz CTRLR actually has a hardware switch to change over into a mouse emulation mode. You can see it in this picture. This isn't a common thing for game pads to have.