So I am not too sure if its just something I have read too much into but can anyone confirm if a phone can affect signal ...

iPhone 5 (EE) - Ok but seems to be slow switching (mast handovers) looses 3G or could have 4G but is slow switching

Samsung G4 Mini (EE) - I feel its pretty fast and smart with signal scanning it but I havnt had enough chance to see if it actually gets better signal

Has anyone had stronger signal based on the handset they are using or had anything similar to the above, Are iPhone slow on signal swapping do they receive signal better or worse than others..etc

Cheers
BD

2G - 3G switching can take place mid call.

different phones can definitely affect your signal. but it is important to realise that the number of bars you have is meaningless. they are all calibrated differently, and as turned out in the iPhone bumper issue, sometimes to deliberately to deceive..

3G => 2G switching can.

2G => 3G switching cannot.

As for handset affecting signal, yes. This is a well known phenomenon for decades. Every phone has a different radio, chipset, and antenna design as well as different versions of a phone (hardware and software) can have different tweaks in relation to signal searching and keeping.

There's also calibration, not all handsets are calibrated the same even though they're supposed to be, vaguely.

This interesting video worth watching:

http://vimeo.com/59084995

Someone once told me that Aluminium body phones dont get a signal as good as a plastic bodied phone. I dont know if there is any truth in that tho.

Can be. Aluminium (in fact, all metals) block signal so the antenna have to be strategically placed in gaps in the aluminium shell for a signal to get through properly.

And then there is the added complication of alloy phones like the iPhone 4 onwards which use the external (chassis) body AS the antenna(s),