I see what you mean. I believe George Lucas kind of addressed this issue back in the PT days. iirc, he answered a question about in universe technology apparent decline under Imperial dictatorship compared to Republic governance. Simply put, he argued a regime such as the Empire kind of inhibited R&D in most areas of expertise. I guess this can also be the case in the military field where fear and corruption could inhibit breakthroughs in technology assuming most of the design presented in recent movies were developed during the Clone Wars later stages.
It's like a piece from this trooper, now a piece from that trooper... Disney has the worst creativity in their new SW designs. The only new design I've liked so far were the new OT era RO troopers. I thought they were great. I guess they didn't have the same people work on Solo. Oh well, more saved money for me.
Your right about the hinge and it looks like something is folded in front and back, and the circle like a motor. Still looks dumb though. 
