I’ve always taken this Lego figure to be a boombox, but I’ve come to recognize that the handle is a phone, and the screen interface on the front seems to be phone-like, as well. Perhaps the pieces were repurposed from other initial uses? Perhaps it’s a prototype for the boombox phone of what was then the future.
(In unrelated news, that is, indeed, ash from the NorCal fires on the window ledge.)