Chances are because of all the apps and 'other things you've been downloading' and doing on your android phone, its probably slowed down substantially. There are 3 solutions, 1) Buy a better phone with better hardware 2) Uninstall some apps and downloaded files that you no longer need/use 3) Use a few tricks for Rooted and Non-Rooted phones

For the Non-Rooted
steps Speed Up your Android Phone:

1) A New Launcher (ADWLauncher/LauncherPro)
Using a 3rd party Launcher as i've already mentioned in my Saving Battery post can save tons of battery and add tons of speed, also with the customizations available with a new launcher, why wouldn't you switch. LauncherPro adds the most speed straight away but doesn't have as many options as ADWLauncher, which is still quite a bit faster than the stock launcher. Personally I prefer ADWLauncher. In the Launcher you can also scan through the setting and tweak the memory settings

2) Get rid of un-used homescreens, widgets and live wallpapers
As i've mentioned in my Saving Battery post, getting rid of homescreens, live wallpapers and widgets (especially auto-updating) can significantly improve battery and performance. It is important to find the balance between performance, battery, productivity and fun. If you become a productivity freak then there was no point in spending all that money on a new phone. You can remove homescreens if your running HTC Sense, Motorola Blurr or a Launcher.




3) Uninstall unwanted apps and downloaded files
  Using a Task Manager such as Process Manager, Advanced Task Killer will tell you what apps are running in the background and how much memory they are taking up, if you find that one of your old apps that you no longer use is taking up tons of memory, then simple, uninstall it. Sadly, most of these memory hogging apps come pre-installed on your phone and unless you root, you are stuck with them.

4) Move Apps 2 SD
Use the Apps 2 SD app from the Market to move your big apps to your SD to save space on your device and boost performance. In Froyo there is a new inbuilt feature in Settings > Applications > Manage Apps then you have to go through each and every single app until you find one that can be moves to SD. But with Apps 2 SD it shows you which ones are able to be moved and then gives you the option to move it.




For the Rooted
1) Install a Custom ROM
Installing a Custom ROM will not only improve the performance of your phone but improve the battery life. The reason most root is to improve performance by installing a Custom ROM. I use Cyanogenmod due to the stability (even in the experimental versions) and extra customizations available. Also play with the ROM's advanced settings to find the best performance that you use your phone for.

2) Overclocking Your Phone
A way to improve performance and speed in a sluggish phone is to run the processors at MAX the whole time, and by underclocking while the screens off you can improve battery life. SetCPU I found was the best and easiest way to overclock.

3) Uninstall Crapware
Crapware is basically the pre-installed apps that no body uses that you can't remove on a non-rooted phone. On a rooted phone download Titanium Backup and then go into Backup/Restore then tap the app you want to remove and uninstall it