[Huawei Ascend XT Guides, News, & Discussion] basizwizrdry:
I recently managed to snag one of these up at a local walmart recently (well, 2 actually) - So I would share my experience with the software aspects I have dealt with so far.

Upon opening the box, I removed the NanoSIM (before even powering it up) and gave the device a full charge - no setup yet or anything.

I then went through the initial setup, skipping everything - not signing into Wi-Fi, or added my google account. The system was on B130 or B140, I can't recall now. I enabled developer settings, enable usb debug and checked OEM Unlock (for bootloader). I then connected it to my PC (I already had the proper drivers installed, and Minimal ADB and Fastboot) and proceeded to unlock the bootloader via the official code from Huawei. This of course gives you the warning that the phone is not secure, every time you power up the phone from fully off (or restart)

Now that the bootloader was successfully unlocked, I installed TWRP from the thread "[TWRP]Unofficial[5/21/2017]huawei ascend xt" by madvane20 using Fastboot. This was perfectly successful. Upon first load of TWRP I swiped to allow modifications.

Once in TWRP I copied the B180_Full_Update.zip from "[Guide]Huawei Ascend XT - How to update from any version up to B180 after rooting" by clsA - to a 4GB MicroSD Card that I put in the phone. I mounted system and cust, as it instructs in the thread - then proceeded to do a factory reset, format data from within TWRP (I might have done an advanced wipe too, and checked everything but the external SD, but I can't quite recall) and then did a reboot directly back to recovery.

I then proceeded to make sure that system and cust was mounted again, and installed the B180_Full_Update.zip - wiping dalvik/cache after. Then I did a standard reboot system, but the phone failed to boot. It just stopped at the unsecure warning, where you can press power (or wait) to boot anyhow. It would respond to me pressing power, but not go past that part. I was slightly concerned at this point, but lucky for me a long press of the power button and holding volume up - took me back to TWRP. So all was not lost.

I then decided to fully wipe everything again - following the previous steps I mentioned - and this time install the SR2-SuperSU-v2.79-SR2-20170103215521.zip from the thread "AT&T Huawei Ascend XT H1611 Feb27, 2017 update all things Root and TWRP (guide)" By powerserge1 . This was installed immediately after the Rom zip. Then I wiped dalvik/cache and reboot. This time the phone did boot as described (AT&T logo and a few automatic reboots, before actually getting to the setup screen) - I was then on B180 with SuperSU installed. Unfortunately, wifi was not working!

So at that point I decided to flash the boot.img (inside the boot.zip) at the bottom of the first post on the thread "[Rom][11thMay]Ascend XT - Swift&Fast Slim B160/b170/b180 aio" By madvane20. I did this with my PC via Fastboot. At this point the Wi-Fi was fixed. Unfortunately while SuperSU was installed ( and I ended up updating it via Play Store) - Root was not working (tried root checker from the play store), and the SuperSU program was not actually functioning properly. But other than that the phone seemed fully functional, and up to date.

I should state now that I bought this phone just to use it as a cheap tablet (Wi-Fi only), I do not have AT&T Service - and did not try and unlock it. So I cannot speak to how it performs as an actual cellphone - Service quality, service features etc.

Of course, I felt a little uneasy about the phone working fine - but not correctly rooted. I don't really need root for my uses, but it's what got it actually booting in the first place, so I figure I may as well know it is working. So here's my last step...

I just simply reflashed the B180_Full_Update.zip in TWRP. Mounted everything, full wipe of everything and rebooted back to recovery - before flashing of course. I did not reflash SuperSU or mess around with the boot.img etc. Just a davlik/cache wipe before rebooting the system. This time the system booted fine (AT&T logo and a couple resets, like before) and wifi was working right off the bat. I was at B180 still (obviously), and no signs of root or SuperSU. This is fine by me.

SO after all of that, it seems I am on a stock (unrooted, all bloat) B180 version (from B130 or B140, no other versions in between). Updated fully via unlocked bootloader, and various software. I have not tried to root again, because I don't need it. I just do the basic debloating that android natively allows, disabling all the AT&T stuff and various built in apps I wont use.

Hopefully this will be some help to anyone following the same path that I have, or currently in any of the hangups I was in.

Also, for anyone trying to replace the Huawei Home Launcher with something like Nova Launcher (recommended) - be sure to go to Settings/apps/Huawei Home/Open by default then clear defaults. This will allow you to select a new default launcher.

Feel free to ask any questions, and I will help as best as I can!