I live in an area with weak cell phone reception.  I can usually make calls outside the house, while inside it is pretty hit or miss. I am planning on replacing my cell phone because it is 4 years old and the battery is not holding a charge worth a damn.  

Is there a difference between the quality of the radio in different cell phones?  In other words, could I improve my ability to make calls based on the phone I am using? What phone has the best reception?

For what it is worth, I am in the android universe. 

Thanks!

years ago i put my samsung galaxy 1 next to the wifes motorola something or other.  moto always had a better signal.

not sure h ow much difference nowadays.

but they can always tweek the software to make the signal look better

just make sure it has a user replaceable battery and an sd slot

All pretty much the same now days. If you have wifi at home then you can do wifi-calling which works good.

though they are almost all the same any more
I think it's kinda luck of the draw

my son and I usually get the same phones, seems like one of us always winds up with a phone that works better in one place or another

To tell you the honest truth, I haven't looked at phone specs to that deep of and inspection level. If it's like two way radio specs, you'll want something that will pull a 5% Baud Error Rate at the weakest signal level.

Anyway, VoLTE and WiFi Calling have really changed the home game these days.