I just had to bring this topic up again, I received my card the other day and it looks exactly the same as the pictures above, with the black PCB and the grill over the contacts. When I go to the Start/Help it also says HW 44/SVN 824, it runs the latest AKAIO 1.62c fine and seems to work the way the real cards work with roms such as using Xenophobia's patch on the ind release of Dementium II and holding X to make Blue Dragon work.
I've had a few no card inserted and games freezing but apart from that it seems to act normally, so do we know what the consensus is, clone or real.
I got it from Console Repair/wii-chip.co.uk who I've ordered a few cards from and got the real thing, plus they're really quick, you normally get your order within two days, so I have nothing but good things to say about them.