You're gonna be bothered by how cool I am.

"Another thing that has bothered some fans is that the galaxy of the prequel era seems more technologically advanced than the later era of the original trilogy. Ships are shinier and planets more elaborately cityscaped (did I mention how gorgeous this film looks with all that color and all that lovely scenery?)."

Lucas has always said that this was completely intentional. When you think about it, the first trilogy is set largely on Coruscant (the Capital of the Galaxy) among the ruling elite. Everyone we see (except for Ani and his mother) is at the top of the pyramid socially and economically.

In the second trilogy we're primarily on rag-tag worlds hanging out with the rebels and the also-rans. Everybody is broke or darn close to it. Many of their ships are grungemetal left-overs scrounged for the rebellion.

It makes perfect sense to me that the levels of technology and opulence reflect that shift.