Speaking as a Nexus One owner, it's not quite useless, it's just harder to use. Froyo's automatic brightness adjustment makes it quite usable in direct sunlight

Speaking as a Nexus One owner, it's not quite useless, it's just harder to use. Froyo's automatic brightness adjustment makes it quite usable in direct sunlight, though it's obviously not going to compete with an LCD. However, the display is just beyond gorgeous, and given that I work very hard to stay _out_ of the sun, it's a great fit for me.